December 2011

Japan Center for International Exchange

Bridging Asia and the Pacific:
Japan’s Role in Reinforcing the US Pivot
Hitoshi Tanaka, Senior Fellow, JCIEIn his first year on the job, US President Barack
Obama declared himself the United States’ first Pacificpresident. Evidence of a US strategic shift toward agreater foreign policy emphasis on the Pacific has
been slow to emerge during the Obama presidency
as America’s quagmires in Afghanistan and Iraq anddomestic issues such as healthcare have stolen thelimelight. But one can now see signs that the US shifttoward the Pacific is more than mere rhetoric. Suchsigns include the US declaration that the Senkaku
Islands are covered under the US-Japan Security
Treaty; US cooperation with Southeast Asian nations
regarding the Spratly Islands territorial issues andfreedom of navigation in the South China Sea; US
joint military exercises with the Philippines, Japan,
South Korea, and Vietnam; and US moves to station
two littoral combat ships in Singapore.
President Obama also recently made a highly publicized trip to the Pacific. In Honolulu, at the APEC
Summit, he heartily endorsed the Trans-PacificPartnership (TPP). Then, in Canberra, President

Obama announced his “deliberate and strategic decision” to have the United States play a greater and­longer-term role in the security and prosperity of Asia
Pacific, stating that “reductions in US defense spending
will not … come at the expense of the Asia Pacific.”*
He also backed symbolism with substance when, with
Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, he announced
the stationing of up to 2,500 US Marines in Darwin.
Finally, President Obama attended the East Asia
Summit in Bali, the first time that the United States has
formally participated in this meeting. Overall, these developments are highly positive and welcomed by Tokyoand other US allies around the region.
At the same time, however, this is no time for complacency. Against the backdrop of a shifting regionalbalance of power and ongoing global economic turmoil, the US Congress is demanding that budget cuts bemade to bring spending down to sustainable levels, and* Barack Obama, 2011. “Remarks By President Obama to theAustralian Parliament,” <http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-pressoffice/2011/11/17/remarks-president-obama-australian-parliament>.

Strengthen Partnerships in the Region

defense spending is not immune to the large-scale cuts
being made in the United States. While some savings
will accrue from the US withdrawal from Afghanistan
and Iraq, it is unlikely to be sufficient. Given these economic challenges and the ever-changing balance ofpower in the region, it is all the more important that
the United States’ new strategy in Asia Pacific be developed in close collaboration with its closest ally in theregion, Japan.

The United States should also continue to strengthen
its regional partnerships. In its forays into Afghanistan
and Iraq, the United States’ lack of supportive regional partners was a contributing factor blinding it
to its own failure to make an adequate prior assessment and occupation strategy. So while the UnitedStates was able relatively easily to destroy the regimesof the Afghan Taliban and Saddam Hussein, it could
not create viable alternatives that would garner widespread legitimacy.
These mistakes must not be in vain but should provide valuable lessons for the future. US allies around theregion welcome the US announcement that East Asia
will be a top priority, but it is crucial that the UnitedStates cooperate closely with its regional partners indoing so. Its initial steps in this direction have beenpromising, but the perpetual challenge it faces is doing this in a sustained manner. Meanwhile, the UnitedStates would be wise to avoid unilateral decision making, an excessive focus on US hegemony, and harshlabeling of China as a threat. Instead, the key to fostering a secure and prosperous Pacific region is to focus
on enrichment of the security environment, including
increasing regional confidence-building mechanisms,particularly with China.

Enriching Asia Pacific Security
So how can the United States maintain its commitment to Asia Pacific and meet regional challenges
in the face of the current economic turmoil? From aJapanese perspective, there appear to be three steps
that the United States could take: proactively adapt its
military deployment strategy, continue to strengthen
partnerships in the region, and leverage new economic opportunities.

Revise its Forward Deployment Strategy
Given that military spending cuts are virtually guaranteed, it is clear that the United States will have tochange its forward deployment strategy in accordancewith the new financial reality. The impact of budget
cuts would likely be less painful if the United States
were to proactively consider a new military strategy
in light of the current economic and security reality itfaces. We may already be seeing the beginning of a newstrategy with the Air-Sea battle concept, which somehave touted as an effective response to China’s increasing anti-access and area-denial capabilities. However,Air-Sea battle would be better employed as a strategy
for the US military to streamline efficiency and spending among the Navy, Air Force, and Marines; reorganize US force dispersions to combine the strength of
its air and sea capabilities; and reduce the focus onground forces. The decision to station US Marines in
Darwin, out of range of Chinese missiles, could also beseen as representing part of a change in the US forward
deployment strategy.

EAST ASIA INSIGHTS

Leverage New Economic Opportunities
New economic opportunities can be leveraged tohelp strengthen regional partnerships and alleviate
US budgetary strain. In this light, President Obama’s
endorsement of the TPP is encouraging. The TPP is
an important policy tool for linking the United Stateswith East Asian economic institutions. It can also beused as a model for deeper and wider regional economic integration in the future as negotiations areexpected to go beyond trade and investment andcover areas such as competition policy, government
procurement policy, and intellectual property rights.
The eventual long-term goal should be to use the TPP
as a stepping stone toward creating a Free Trade Areaof the Asia Pacific (FTAAP).

2December 2011

future role of the Japan Self-Defense Forces in relation
to changes in security strategy, how to best enrich thesecurity environment as the balance of power in theregion continues to shift, and the development of trilateral confidence-building mechanisms with China.
On the economic front, now that Prime Minister
Yoshihiko Noda has announced Japan’s intention tojoin the TPP negotiations, Japan should play an active role in developing a vision for linking the TPP
with East Asian economic integration and the longterm goal of realizing an FTAAP. To be in a position
to play this critical role, Japan must liberalize sensitive sectors of its own economy, especially agriculture.
In addition to being an unsustainable burden on theJapanese economy due to the government subsidies
paid to farmers, agricultural protectionism is inhibiting Japan’s ability to conclude quality FTAs. As Japandemands agricultural exceptions, its counterparts demand similar exceptions for their own sensitive sectors. It is regrettable that currently the public debate inJapan regarding the TPP is focused solely on the potential losses, particularly to agriculture. The Japanese
government needs to reshape the debate and sell its future vision for the region to the Japanese public, making it clear that deeper economic integration throughhigh-quality agreements will be beneficial for Japanand the region as a whole. The Japanese government
must also simultaneously intensify its efforts toward
creating a regional Economic Partnership Agreement(EPA) among the ASEAN+6 nations.

Some concerns have been raised that the highstandards that the TPP strives to institutionalize will
exclude rapidly growing emerging economies such asChina. At this juncture, China will indeed not be ableto join the TPP process as the high standards would
require China to undergo huge domestic reforms toosoon. But this does not mean that other countries
should shy away from high-standard economic integration objectives. China is a dynamic society undergoing great changes, and it will continue to evolve andto develop economically. China will be able to join theTPP in the future after it has gone through the necessary transitional processes as an emerging market
economy. A high-standard TPP agreement will serve
as a motivator for China, giving it greater incentive
to consolidate its rule of law and move into the ranksof the advanced nations. In the shorter term, China
will naturally be more focused on narrower East Asia
regional economic integration that only covers tradeand investment.

Japan’s Role
Japan is the United States’ closest ally in Asia in termsof both economic power and military capabilities. So
as the United States adjusts its military strategy to reflect budgetary realities and works toward enriching
the regional security environment, Japan will continue
to be a crucial regional partner. Given this role, it willbe wise for Japan to take a number of proactive steps toconsolidate the role of the US-Japan alliance in the US
strategic pivot toward Asia, by serving as a bridge tothe region and ensuring that the US-Japan partnership
remains sustainable.
Moreover, given the nature of the US-Japan Security
Treaty, whereby the United States protects Japan in return for the right to house US bases on Japanese territory, changes in US strategy require close consultationand cooperation with Japan. To this end, it is imperativethat the governments of the United States and Japanmove away from their previous narrow focus on the relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and sit
down for broader discussions on the future directionof the alliance. These discussions should address theEAST ASIA INSIGHTS

Japan: Bridge Across the Pacific
As Japan sets out its vision, it must take into consideration its unique position as probably the only true
Asia Pacific nation, able to bridge East Asia and thecountries on the eastern rim of the Pacific Ocean. TheUnited States, as President Obama announced, is a
Pacific power; and so is Australia. But the concept ofan Asia Pacific nation is not just geographic. It is also
very much a part of Japan’s identity. On the one hand,
Japan has deep historical, cultural, and philosophicalconnections with the rest of Asia. And on the otherhand, Japan is the only Asian nation that has become3

December 2011

an advanced industrial democracy with an economic
and social structure similar to that in the West. Thus as
East Asia continues to play a greater role in global affairs, Japan is uniquely placed to play the much neededrole of a bridge between the two continents and between emerging economies and advanced industrialnations. It is against this background that Japan should
be proactive in negotiations aimed at concluding theTPP as well as an East Asian regional EPA.

Hitoshi Tanaka is a senior fellow at JCIE and chairmanof the Institute for International Strategy at the Japan
Research Institute. He ­previously served as Japan’s deputy minister for ­foreign affairs.

East Asia Insights
East Asia Insights is an occasional newsletter focusing on East Asia community building
from the Japanese perspective.
Published by: Tadashi Yamamoto, President, JCIE
Please direct any comments or questions to eainsights@jcie.or.jp.
Japan Center for International Exchange
www.jcie.or.jp

EAST ASIA INSIGHTS

Japan Center for International Exchange, Inc. (JCIE/USA)
www.jcie.org

4© 2011 Japan Center for International Exchange

December 2011