Michael Schiffer / Special to The Yomiuri Shimbun
North Korea's recent nuclear test and missile launch and its continued reckless and defiant behavior is a vivid reminder that many of the world's most pressing challenges--stopping proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, strengthening the global economy, tackling climate change, and responding to global pandemics--are impossible to address without Asian partnership, participation and leadership.
The U.S.-Japan alliance is the cornerstone of U.S. policy in the Asia-Pacific region and the point of origin for reinvigorating robust and enduring U.S. engagement in Asia. As the world's two wealthiest democracies, the United States and Japan have shared interests--resting on a bedrock of shared values including democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and free markets--in promoting security and prosperity in Asia and around the world. Over the past decade, with broad bipartisan support in the United States, the U.S.-Japan alliance has been elevated and transformed. It is hard to imagine two other countries in today's world which rely on each other in such deep and fundamental ways.
The deep, genuine and enduring regional and global security partnership we continue to forge must include meaningful interoperability at all levels, with complementary capabilities and an alliance force structure and posture calibrated to the challenges that characterize the new security environment.
North Korea's current provocative behavior highlights the benefits of clearly defined alliance roles, missions, and capabilities. Our successful preparation for and response to the April Taepodong-2 launch was made possible by our investments in missile defense systems, robust information sharing, and full coordination on response options--and the foundation of an unshakable U.S. commitment to provide the full range of capabilities necessary to ensure Japan's defense.
Closer cooperation between the United States and Japan and our partners in the region can lay the groundwork for ensuring North Korea adheres to its commitments to complete and verifiable denuclearization, returns to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and International Atomic Energy Agency Safeguards, and, as part of any final [settlement] and peace regime, sincerely addresses the abductee issue.
The revitalization of the alliance to meet the challenges of the next 50 years must also include the full and complete implementation of U.S. and Japanese force posture realignment, most notably on Guam and Okinawa Prefecture. The United States is fully committed to moving forward with the 2006 "Roadmap for Realignment"# and the Guam International Agreement, which together contribute to a more flexible and capable alliance better able to assure regional partners, strengthen the long-term forward presence of U.S. forces in the region, and deter potential aggressors.
Over the next year both the United States and Japan will undertake significant strategic reviews, including the Quadrennial Defense Review, Nuclear Posture Review, and Ballistic Missile Defense Review by the United States, and the National Defense Policy Guidelines by Japan. Close communication will help assure that a more strategic approach are fully integrated into our respective final recommendations, as well as shared perspectives on such vital issues as extended deterrence.
Japan has shown that it is not only playing a responsible leadership role in its own region, but globally as well, including in peacekeeping operations and response to humanitarian crises and natural disasters around the globe. The United States deeply appreciates the support that Japan's Self-Defense Forces have provided to coalition operations in Afghanistan, and the leadership role Japan has played in seeking development funds to rebuild vital infrastructure in that country and in convening the recent Pakistan Donors Conference. Japan's participation in international antipiracy operations off the Horn of Africa further highlights Japan's leadership and partnership in confronting transnational threats.
The 50th anniversary of the U.S.-Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security next year offers an opportunity to both celebrate the achievements of the alliance and to cement our progress toward a transformed and truly global alliance. By creatively pursuing an ambitious--but achievable--alliance agenda, we can help shape the strategic environment of the Asia-Pacific region, underscore the U.S. commitment to the defense of Japan, and continue to develop mutually reinforcing alliance capabilities. A strong, unified, and vital alliance will remain the heart of effective deterrence, and help assure regional peace, stability, and prosperity for the decades to come.
Given the new regional and global realities facing the alliance, the United States cannot and should not take managing the U.S.-Japan alliance for granted. The United States, and indeed the world, benefits greatly from a close and productive partnership with a Japan that is confident about its future and willing and able to play a leading role in creating a peaceful and prosperous Asia. The United States must rededicate itself to a U.S.-Japan partnership that is global in nature and in action, with the same spirit that has governed our relations for more than half a century.
Schiffer is deputy assistant defense secretary for East Asia in the Office of the U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs.
(Jun. 26, 2009)
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