Japan’s responses to China’s rise : soft balancing in Southeast Asia

Japan’s threat perceptions toward China have hardened over the post-Cold War period. This led Tokyo to rely more on overt balancing strategies compared with engagement and hedging strategies. While hard balancing measures are widely discussed in the literature, little or no attention is paid to soft...

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Main Author: Singh, Bhubhindar
Other Authors: S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2022
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/155758
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1557582023-03-05T17:24:02Z Japan’s responses to China’s rise : soft balancing in Southeast Asia Singh, Bhubhindar S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies Social sciences::Political science Japan Balancing Japan’s threat perceptions toward China have hardened over the post-Cold War period. This led Tokyo to rely more on overt balancing strategies compared with engagement and hedging strategies. While hard balancing measures are widely discussed in the literature, little or no attention is paid to soft balancing. Though concerned about China’s strategic rise, Japan’s strategic options are limited by the entrenched normative constraints within the security policymaking structure. These conditions make soft balancing a critical and viable strategy for Japan. The prominence of soft balancing is illustrated by analyzing Japan’s response to China’s widening influence in Southeast Asia, primarily focusing on two areas–East Asian multilateralism and the South China Sea territorial disputes. Empirically, this paper offers a more nuanced analysis of Japan’s response to China’s strategic rise; and theoretically, explains the way Japan’s case strengthens the conceptual utility of soft balancing through the incorporation of a normative perspective. Submitted/Accepted version 2022-03-18T06:58:02Z 2022-03-18T06:58:02Z 2022 Journal Article Singh, B. (2022). Japan’s responses to China’s rise : soft balancing in Southeast Asia. Asian Security, 18(1), 1-19. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14799855.2021.1942849 1479-9855 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/155758 10.1080/14799855.2021.1942849 2-s2.0-85110734001 1 18 1 19 en Asian Security This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Asian Security on 19 Jul 2021, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14799855.2021.1942849. application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Social sciences::Political science
Japan
Balancing
spellingShingle Social sciences::Political science
Japan
Balancing
Singh, Bhubhindar
Japan’s responses to China’s rise : soft balancing in Southeast Asia
description Japan’s threat perceptions toward China have hardened over the post-Cold War period. This led Tokyo to rely more on overt balancing strategies compared with engagement and hedging strategies. While hard balancing measures are widely discussed in the literature, little or no attention is paid to soft balancing. Though concerned about China’s strategic rise, Japan’s strategic options are limited by the entrenched normative constraints within the security policymaking structure. These conditions make soft balancing a critical and viable strategy for Japan. The prominence of soft balancing is illustrated by analyzing Japan’s response to China’s widening influence in Southeast Asia, primarily focusing on two areas–East Asian multilateralism and the South China Sea territorial disputes. Empirically, this paper offers a more nuanced analysis of Japan’s response to China’s strategic rise; and theoretically, explains the way Japan’s case strengthens the conceptual utility of soft balancing through the incorporation of a normative perspective.
author2 S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
author_facet S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies
Singh, Bhubhindar
format Article
author Singh, Bhubhindar
author_sort Singh, Bhubhindar
title Japan’s responses to China’s rise : soft balancing in Southeast Asia
title_short Japan’s responses to China’s rise : soft balancing in Southeast Asia
title_full Japan’s responses to China’s rise : soft balancing in Southeast Asia
title_fullStr Japan’s responses to China’s rise : soft balancing in Southeast Asia
title_full_unstemmed Japan’s responses to China’s rise : soft balancing in Southeast Asia
title_sort japan’s responses to china’s rise : soft balancing in southeast asia
publishDate 2022
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/155758
_version_ 1759856738170830848