Defense of Taiwan: Viewpoint from Tokyo and the Role of the U.S.-Japan Alliance
Intensifying U.S.-China rivalry and the heightened tensions over the Taiwan Strait over the recent years have captured much attention in Japan, a key U.S. ally and Taiwan’s closest neighbor. The Japanese discourse has increasingly focused on their country’s possible involvement in a contingency in the Taiwan Strait and potential implications for Japan should a conflict break out. Japan’s potential role in a Taiwan contingency has deep historical roots in the 62-year-old U.S.-Japan Mutual Security Treaty and the so-called “Taiwan Clause”—Japan’s first public and official assurance in the 1969 Nixon-Sato Joint Communique about the United States’ ability to use its bases in Japan for a Taiwan contingency. How have Tokyo’s views toward Taiwan’s defense evolved since the 1960s? What is new and distinct about the current Japanese discourse on Taiwan? In this talk, Dr. Ayumi Teraoka will provide an overview of the evolution of debates surrounding Japan’s role in the defense of Taiwan, illuminate the current discussions in Japan, and explore the direction they might be headed.
About this Lecture
Lectures of Opportunity offers U.S. Naval War College (NWC) students, faculty, and staff an opportunity to learn more about national and international socio-political subjects that may be of relevance to the NWC community.
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