Japan zwischen Abandonment und Entrapment: das Sicherheitsdilemmain der USA-Japan-Allianz nach dem Ende des Ost-West-KonfliktsTaiho Lin

ASIEN – Nr. 82 (2002) pp. 5–21

Since the end of the cold war 1990, the security environment in East Asia has changed fundamentally. In response to these new security challenges that result from the collapse of Soviet Union and the emergence of the new power distribution in this region, Japan has experienced a series of adjustment process in its security policy. Among these efforts, the most important event is the redefinition of the security arrangement between Tokyo and Washington, which results in the intensification and enlargement of the U.S.‐Japanese alliance that continues to be the corner stone of the U.S.‐Japan security relations. In regard to this circumstance, it is worth of scrutinizing its possible consequences in the Asia‐Pacific area academically. In order to approach this subject systematically, this article applies the concept of security dilemma in alliance politics in the international relations theory to analyze whether Japan is caught in a security dilemma in the bilateral alliance with the USA, if the answer is certain, what kind of dilemma, abandonment or entrapment, could Japan be caught in. And which consequences could be resulted from this kind of security dilemma.