Japanese security strategy: becoming a "normal" great power?

ANU Japan Institute Seminar Series
Dr Thomas Wilkins, University of Sydney & ASPI

Japan’s security posture has undergone a quiet transformation, especially under the leadership of the late Prime Minister Abe Shinzō. Under the banner of a “proactive contribution to international peace” Japan has reformed its security apparatus, restructured its defence architecture, and acquired new capabilities to allow its to play a greater security role in the Indo-Pacific. Seeking to unite allies and partners under its major diplomatic initiative of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” it has greatly expanded its international space. Now that Japan has shed many of the post war restraints upon its international security role to allow for greater defence spending and “collective defense” with allies and partners, does this mean it is fulfilling the prediction by post Cold War Realists that Japan would resume the mantle of a “normal great power”? In this presentation, Dr Wilkins will examine recent developments in Japan’s security strategy and indicate how these impact upon debates about the contemporary nature of Japanese power and purpose.

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