The Evolution of US Alliances in Northeast Asia: Japan and South Korea

Abstract

The rise of China has determined a process of contestation of the several normative and strategic pillars of the regional order in East Asia, ranging from the regional hierarchy to the US capacity to provide public goods in the region (e.g. security and extended deterrence). This has led the United States and its major partners in East Asia, South Korea and Japan, to put in place a complex strategy that aims to uphold the current regional order while developing a new approach to great power management. On the one hand, this strategy entails the recognition of the new major social status of great power for China, and a quest for cooperation in theatres, such as the Korean peninsula, where it can maintain order. On the other hand, Washington, Tokyo and Seoul have actively cooperated to set limits to the revisionist elements of China’s rise. This has generated a process of evolution in the US-led hub-and-spokes system, in three distinct ways: Tokyo and Seoul have expanded their security roles; the US-Japan and US-ROK bilateral alliances have been consolidated and deepened; and despite significant obstacles generated by domestic politics in South Korea and Japan, limited but significant steps have been taken to turn the bilateral structures into a ‘security triangle’.

Panel: Security and Deterrence in Asia

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EISS 2018 programme

@inproceedings{eiss-2018-the-evolution-of-us-alliances-in-northeast-asia-japan-and-south-korea,
  author = {Matteo Dian},
  title = {The Evolution of US Alliances in Northeast Asia: Japan and South Korea},
  booktitle = {European Security Studies Conference 2018},
  year = {2018},
  url = {https://eiss-europa.com/papers/2018-the-evolution-of-us-alliances-in-northeast-asia-japan-and-south-korea.html}
}