Latest news with #InstituteofContemporaryAsianStudies
Nikkei Asia
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Nikkei Asia
It's time for Japan to rethink its security dependency on Washington
Robert Dujarric is co-director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at the Japan campus of Temple University. The cornerstone of Tokyo's security is the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty. But what matters most is not the American pledge to defend Japan -- treaties, unlike private contracts, aren't enforceable. No government will go to war solely because a document says it must.
South China Morning Post
10-03-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Trump's warning shot to Japan casts doubt on US defence guarantees in Asia
US President Donald Trump has issued what analysts are calling an 'advance warning' to Japan and South Korea , signalling that his administration is preparing to make swingeing security and trade demands of Washington's closest allies in the Western Pacific. Advertisement Trump is expected to demand that both Tokyo and Seoul pay far more for the American troops stationed on their soil, threatening withdrawal if his terms are not met. 'The most important thing to note from his comments is that the United States is no longer committed to defending Japan, South Korea or Taiwan,' said Robert Dujarric, co-director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at Temple University's Tokyo campus. 'If you are an official in the Japanese government and you still believe in the US security umbrella, then you are the sort of person who also believes [Trump] has been faithful in all his marriages,' he told This Week in Asia. 01:01 Donald Trump declines to say if US would defend Taiwan against mainland China attack Donald Trump declines to say if US would defend Taiwan against mainland China attack For Tokyo and Seoul, the alarm bells were already ringing before Trump's remarks in the Oval Office last Thursday, when he called the long-standing US-Japan security treaty unfair and accused South Korea of exploiting America economically. Now, those bells are deafening.
