Podcast: Japan’s Security Renaissance

Play Button Pause Button
0:00 0:00
x
Episode Guests
  • Elizabeth C. Economy
    Senior Fellow for China Studies

Show Notes

After seventy years of low-profile defense activities, Japan is poised to reinvent its national security posture. As Andrew Oros, professor of political science at Washington College and author of Japan’s Security Renaissance: New Policies and Politics for the Twenty-First Century, explains on this week’s Asia Unbound podcast, Japan has not only oriented its own self-defense forces toward more practical activities in recent years, but has also cultivated security partnerships with countries including Australia, India, and Vietnam. This security revival has been spurred in part by the dark clouds on Japan’s horizon: China’s military build-up, territorial disputes in the East China Sea, and North Korean nuclear adventurism. But further efforts to reform Japan’s forces will likely come up against Article 9 of Japan’s constitution, under which the country renounces the right to maintain a military and settle disputes by force. Will the perceived threats be enough for President Shinzo Abe to gain popular support for reforming Article 9? Listen above to hear Oros’s take on what the future holds for Japan’s national security posture, and what changes to Article 9 would mean for stability in East Asia and beyond.

Listen to the podcast on SoundCloud »

China

First came Mao, then came Deng, now Chinese President Xi Jinping has ushered in the Third Revolution, introducing sweeping reforms throughout the government, economy, and society. Unlike past leaders…

China

Under President Xi Jinping, China’s era of opening up and reform has drawn to an end, and a new era—one marked by the consolidation of power under Xi himself—has dawned. In his new book, End of an Er…

China

With over 5,000 years of history, modern China must be understood through the lens of its past. In his recent book, Bully of Asia: Why China's Dream is the New Threat to World Order, Steven Mosher ar…

Top Stories on CFR

Russia

Liana Fix, a fellow for Europe at CFR, and Thomas Graham, a distinguished fellow at CFR, sit down with James M. Lindsay to discuss the future of U.S. policy toward Russia and the risks posed by heightened tensions between two nuclear powers. This episode is the first in a special TPI series on the U.S. 2024 presidential election and is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Terrorism and Counterterrorism

Violence around U.S. elections in 2024 could not only destabilize American democracy but also embolden autocrats across the world. Jacob Ware recommends that political leaders take steps to shore up civic trust and remove the opportunity for violence ahead of the 2024 election season.

China

Those seeking to profit from fentanyl and governments seeking to control its supply are locked in a never-ending competition, with each new countermeasure spurring further innovation to circumvent it.