1150 Seventeenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036
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Just one month into its rule, the newly elected Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) seems intent to turn campaign rhetoric into action by reexamining Tokyo's policy toward the U.S.-Japan alliance. As President Obama makes his first visit to Tokyo on November 12, a number of troubling issues will complicate his
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ability to bolster general U.S.-Japan global cooperation. The thorniest subject overshadowing the president's visit will be U.S. demands that Tokyo move forward with an accord to realign U.S. bases in Okinawa, an issue recently defined as nonnegotiable by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. The president will also have to address the DPJ's wavering commitment to the U.S. mission in Afghanistan and Tokyo's desire to create an East Asian community centered on Japan, China, and Korea.
The U.S.-Japan alliance is undergoing one of its tensest moments in recent years. If the alliance is to maintain its role as the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region, Washington and Tokyo will have to prove they can work together. What troubles lie ahead for the U.S.-Japan alliance if President Obama is unable to reach agreement with Prime Minister Hatoyama, particularly on the issue of base realignment?
A panel of experts will convene at AEI to discuss Obama's prospects for success in Tokyo: Japan studies director Kent E. Calder, who heads the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS); Patrick Cronin, a senior adviser and director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security; and James Shinn, who served as Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs in the last Bush administration. AEI's director of Japan Studies Michael Auslin will moderate.
| 8:45 a.m. |
Registration |
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| 9:00 |
Panelists: |
Kent E. Calder, Johns Hopkins SAIS |
| Patrick Cronin, Center for a New American Security |
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| James Shinn, Princeton University |
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| Moderator: |
Michael Auslin, AEI |
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| 10:30 | Adjournment |
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Speaker biographies
Michael Auslin, AEI's director of Japan Studies, was an associate professor of history and senior research fellow at the MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University prior to joining AEI. He has been named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, a Marshall Memorial Fellow by the German Marshall Fund, and a Fulbright and Japan Foundation Scholar. His writings on Japan and Japanese diplomacy include the books Negotiating with Imperialism: The Unequal Treaties and the Culture of Japanese Diplomacy (Harvard University Press, 2006) and Japan Society: Celebrating a Century, 1907-2007 (Japan Society Gallery, 2007).
Kent E. Calder is director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He has previously held positions as a professor at Princeton University, as the Japan chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and as a lecturer in the Department of Government at Harvard University, where he served as the first executive director of the Harvard University Program on U.S.-Japan Relations. Mr. Calder was also the former special adviser to the U.S. ambassador to Japan, former special adviser to the assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, and is currently a member of the editorial board of Asian Security. His most recent book is Pacific Alliance: Reviving U.S.-Japan Relations (Yale University Press, 2009). His other publications include Pacific Alliance: Reviving U.S.-Japan Relations, Pacific Defense: Arms, Energy, and America's Future in Asia (William Morrow & Co., 1996) and Crisis and Compensation: Public Policy and Political Stability in Japan, 1949-1986 (Princeton University Press, 1988).
Patrick Cronin is a senior adviser and senior director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS). Prior to joining CNAS, Mr. Cronin was the director of the Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University, where he worked on Asian and long-range security issues. Previously, he served as assistant administrator for policy and program coordination at the U.S. Agency for International Development and held positions at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the U.S. Institute of Peace. He has also been a senior analyst at the Center for Naval Analyses, a U.S. Naval Reserve intelligence officer, and an analyst with the Congressional Research Service and SRI International. His publications include: Global Strategic Assessment, 2009: America's Security Role in a Changing World (National Defense University Press, 2009); The Impenetrable Fog of War: Reflections on Modern Warfare and Strategic Surprise (Praeger, 2008); The U.S.-Japan Alliance: Past, Present and Future (Council on Foreign Relations, 1999); and Redefining the U.S.-Japan Alliance (National Defense University Press, 1994).
James J. Shinn is a professor at Princeton's engineering department. From 2007 to 2008 he served as the secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs, where he was responsible for developing regional security and defense strategy in the Asia-Pacific region. Before coming to the Pentagon, he was the National Intelligence Officer for East Asia, first at the Central Intelligence Agency and then for the Director of National Intelligence. He was also the senior fellow for Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he wrote or edited several task force reports and two books on Asian regional security issues. Mr. Shinn has also worked in the East Asia Bureau of the State Department and as a manager and entrepreneur in Silicon Valley. Mr. Shinn has taught in Princeton University's department of electrical engineering, at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Affairs, and at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. His most recent book is Political Power and Corporate Control (Princeton University Press, 2005), coauthored with Peter Gourevitch.
