First Tier: Japan’s Security Bilateralism in East Asia–Pacific

This chapter aims to explore the first tier of Japan’s multi-tiered security approachMulti-tiered security approach in East AsiaEast Asia and the wider Asia–PacificAsia-Pacific region, focusing on bilateralismBilateralism, which has been foundational to Japan’s foreign and security policies since the Cold WarCold War. Throughout the Cold WarCold War era, Japan’s foreign and security policy was anchored in its allianceAlliance with the US. However, the post-Cold War period brought uncertainty about the future direction of this allianceAlliance. Despite initial uncertainties, a series of developments in the late 1990s and beyond have strengthened the US-Japan allianceUS-Japan alliance considerably to the present day. The most significant external factor driving this allianceAlliance has been the inevitable rise of China and its growing confidence and influence in the region. Recognizing that a US allianceAlliance alone may not suffice to counterbalanceCounterbalance China’s riseChina’s rise, Japan has pursued a strategyStrategy of developing strategic partnershipsStrategic partnerships and security cooperationSecurity cooperation with selected or like-minded countries since the mid-2000s, intensifying these efforts notably from the 2010s onward. In addition to its allianceAlliance with the US, Japan’s foreign and security policy increasingly prioritizes bilateral relations with key regional actors such as IndiaIndia, AustraliaAustralia, ASEANAssociation of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, ROK, VietnamVietnam, and the PhilippinesPhilippines. This chapter thus examines the evolution of Japan’s security allianceAlliance with the US and its bilateral relations with these actors from 1991 to the present day within this broader strategic context.