The Re-Emergence of Great Power Politics in East Asia: Is Japan Balancing China . . .

This project is evaluating the nature of Japanese foreign policy with regard to China. This understanding will be critical to U.S. govemment and business in terms of assessing Japan's economic and political strategy for China and the Pactfic Rim. The analysis will examine the nature of relations between Japan and China in a number of areas, beginning with pattems of technology transfer and the force structure of the Japanese military, i.e., the equipment and organization of Japan's armed forces as reflected by the roles and missions expected of them. It will also include economic strategies, alliance politics, and diplomatic behavior. The implications of Japanese policy toward China are quite fundamental for the future of Northeast Asia. Understanding Japanese strategy in the region as well as the implications of these strategies on the region as a whole (and on U.S. interests in it) will be important conclusions of the project.

The goal of the project is to provide substantial amounts of evidence from a wide variety of perspectives in order to evaluate the changing nature of Japanese policy toward China. In particular, evidence of the view that Japan is indeed acting as a "normal" nation and is "balancing" China will be investigated. The results of this research will be disseminated to the corporate sponsors in Program Working Papers, conference presentations, briefings, and, pending the course of this project, in other publications as well.