Accommodation versus Alliance : Japan’s Prospective Grand Strategy in the Sino-US Competition

This article is premised on the understanding that a Japanese grand strategy is related to two perennial concerns: over open access to sea lines of communication (SLOCs) and over the integration of Japan into Asia (Asianism) with economics as the driving force. Without secure SLOCs, invaluable for the import and export of consumables, energy, and industrial resources, Japan’s economic and, subsequently, national security would be in jeopardy. The focus on SLOCs in Japan’s strategy remained unabated from the Meiji Restoration to the end of WWII, prosecuted through imperialism and war. Postwar, it was accomplished through supporting an international rules-based order organized and underpinned by the US. This system was reinforced by a web of like-minded countries which found the order suitable to meet their developmental needs, including some now challenging that order such as China