A Response to Joseph Nye: Article 9, the Rise of China and the US-Japan Security Alliance

Abstract

This short comment piece summarises and responds to a lecture delivered at the University of Tōkyō by Professor Joseph Nye in autumn 2015. Professor Nye, building on the arguments in his published works, strongly endorses the increasingly controversial security alliance between Japan and the United Sates, urging its continuation and intensification. He also offers a defence of the Abe Cabinet’s recent “reinterpretation” of the pacifism clause of the Japanese Constitution and the associated legislative acts. Nye reflects on many aspects of the political future of East Asia, including the significance of the rising power of China, the dominance of the United State and the probability of continued regional peace and stability. This comment appraises the arguments advanced by Professor Nye, offering alternative viewpoints where these are thought instructive, and highlighting instances where Nye’s analysis may be wanting or incomplete, particularly the complex issue of constitutional reinterpretation.