Japan and East Timor: Change and Development of Japan's Security Policy and the Road to East Timor

Abstract

‘Gulf War syndrome’, which put Japan's ‘comprehensive security’ in a dilemma, triggered a reconsideration of Japan's overall security policy. The heated arguments centring on Japan's ‘international contribution’ during the first Gulf War (1990–91) eventually led to the conception of ‘human security’. It is against this new security policy that Japan addressed the East Timor issue (1999). Notably unlike mainstream liberal democratic institution building, which emphasizes the importance of the growth of democratic traditions and the rule of law, Japan's policy of human security is centred on capacity-building and economic development.