With Vice President Cheney in Tokyo to reassure the Abe Cabinet that the US "understands" Japan's need for progress on abductions, it is worthwhile to look at a couple essays that look into the conditions surrounding the preliminary six-party agreement reached in Beijing.First, in the Washington Post, Philip Zelikow, onetime Condoleeza Rice co-author and until …
Tag: US-Japan alliance
Green on US Asia Policy
I didn't catch this until today, but apparently Michael Green, CSIS Japan Chair and participant in the drafting of the latest Armitage-Nye Report, had an op-ed on US Asia Policy in the Washington Post last Tuesday (via CSIS).The title pretty much says it all: "America's Quiet Victories in Asia."Green's point is that the US position …
Feeling the chill
The chill to which I'm referring, of course, is the chill that has set in between Tokyo and Washington.Without looking particularly hard, I found two very clear signs of a growing appreciation among Japanese opinion makers that the US-Japan alliance is experiencing a bit of turbulence.On the front page of today's Yomiuri, in an article …
Dissecting the second Armitage-Nye Report, part 3
This is the third of three posts looking at the contents of the newly released second Armitage-Nye Report (the first two can be found here and here). An article about the report can be read here from the FT, which remains the best international English-language source of Japan-related news. (And the report can be downloaded …
Continue reading Dissecting the second Armitage-Nye Report, part 3
Dissecting the second Armitage-Nye Report, part 1
Having read the new Armitage-Nye Report published by CSIS -- once again, available here -- I shall, as promised, provide more thorough commentary on its contents.As previously noted, the report is subtitled "Getting Asia Right Through 2020," with its purpose being to outline US Asia policy for the next two to three presidential administrations, regardless …
Continue reading Dissecting the second Armitage-Nye Report, part 1
The Second Armitage-Nye Report
Published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the report can be downloaded here. The event launching the report can be viewed or listened to at the same site.I have only scanned the report, but compared to the initial 2000 report, it is much more focused on shaping the region (hence the subtitle, "Getting …
What a difference a year makes
A year ago I was throwing myself into work on my M.Phil dissertation, which analyzed change in the US-Japan alliance since the end of the cold war. Those changes continued right up through the moment of submission (North Korea's missile test was the week before the deadline).The alliance seemed like it was bounding from strength …
Japan repeats its "dissent"
Steven Clemons, Japan expert and fellow at the New America Foundation, calls attention on his blog to comments by Foreign Minister Aso reiterating Defense Minister Kyuma's criticism of the invasion of Iraq, which drew a response from the State Department (previously discussed here).It seems like a 2 + 2 meeting, between both countries' state and …
New year, old news
Just when I thought that it was the DPJ that was off to a bad start in the new Diet session, the Abe Cabinet once again finds itself in hot water over the inability of a cabinet minister to control his mouth.As I noted earlier, Yanagisawa Hakuo, health minister, recently referred to women as "birth-giving …
Japan says no (kind of)
Last week Japanese Defense Minister Kyuma Fumio criticized the Bush administration's decision to invade Iraq as a "mistake."I held off from commenting right away, because I was curious to see what the US response would be, if any.Now, after Kyuma repeated his criticism this weekend, prompting the State Department to protest to the Japanese Embassy …
Tobias S. Harris 