Japan and Asia’s security in 2022 with Kotani Tetsuo and Ueki Chikako

In this episode of Japan Memo, directly preceding the 2022 IISS Shangri-La Dialogue, Robert Ward and Yuka Koshino host Kotani Tetsuo, professor of global studies at Meikai University and senior fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), and Dr Ueki Chikako Kawakatsu, professor of international relations at Waseda University’s Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies.

Robert, Yuka, Kotani-sensei and Ueki-sensei share their insights on the war in Ukraine’s impact on Asia’s existing security dynamics, Japan and its neighbours’ perceptions of and responses to these shifting dynamics, and invigorated debates in Tokyo surrounding Japan’s defence budget and capabilities. Topics discussed include:

• The effect of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Asia’s security
• The Kishida administration’s response to the crisis at home and with partners
• The Shangri-La Dialogue’s potential to foster critical discussions on Indo-Pacific security
• Domestic debates surrounding Japan’s defence budget, capabilities and revisions to its NSS

The following literature is recommended by our guests for a deeper understanding of the topics discussed:

• ‘安全保障を問いなおす : 「九条-安保体制」を越えて’ / 添谷芳秀著  (‘Rethinking Security: Going beyond the “Article 9 Alliance Regime”’ by Yoshihide Soeya)
• ‘East Asian Strategic Review’ by the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS)
• ‘戦後日本の安全保障―日米同盟、憲法9条からNSCまで’ / 千々和 泰明 (‘Post-war Japan’s Security: The US-Japan alliance, from Article 9 to the NSC’ by Chijiwa Yasuaki)
• ‘Strategic Annual Report’ by the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA)

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Date of Recording: 26 May 2022

Japan Memo is recorded and produced at the IISS in London.

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