China’s reemergence as the preeminent power in East Asia poses a seminal challenge to Japan. That challenge is complicated by the nature of China’s regime. Shrouded from outside view and lacking well-defined checks and balances, China’s decision-making process inevitably generates mistrust in Tokyo. Until China boosts domestic transparency, Japan is unlikely to move away from its current portfolio of strategies – binding China through international institutions while hedging by consolidating the U.S.-Japan alliance.
Presentor:
Moderator
Daniel Kliman is a Ph.D. candidate in Politics at Princeton University writing a dissertation on how democracies cope with rising powers. He is also the author of Japan's Security Strategy in the Post-9/11 World: Embracing a New Realpolitik. Before entering Princeton, Daniel was a Fulbright Fellow at Kyoto University. He has worked as an adjunct researcher at the Institute for Defense Analyses, and has held positions at the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, the US Embassy in Tokyo, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
