Strategic Thinking under Bush and Koizumi: Implications for the US-Japan Alliance

Abstract

The current US administration's foreign and security policies have elicited strong reactions in many corners of the world. In the present climate of uncertainty--with the US conducting a huge military build-up around Iraq and North Korea rattling its saber--the US-Japan alliance looks likely to be severely tested in the months ahead. In this article, Professor Mike M. Mochizuki, director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies at George Washington University, examines the recent national security strategies of both Japan and the United States, and analyzes the underlying thinking in both camps. He notes that, despite popular perceptions, some of the viewpoints expressed by the current US administration do not differ that sharply from those of the Clinton administration. However, he also remarks that, despite repeated expressions of amity and solidarity by both Japan and the US, there is a palpable difference in view regarding the preferred methods for effecting change in the world's trouble-spots.