Publication

This commentary discusses the 2015 third revision of the Guidelines for US-Japan Defense Cooperation, that will replace the second revision, which occurred in 1997 and is seen as outdated in light of China’s and North Korea’s increased military ambitions. In particular, the author describes the origins of this bilateral commitment, explains why the guidelines need to be revised, talks about the key fundamentals of the guidelines, what changes he expects from their revision, and how the new guidelines could affect future Japan-US defense cooperation.