ABSTRACT
Mid-term trends seem fairly clear and are shaped by two fundamental developments: the enormous military buildup of the Soviet Union and the growing discrepancy between US overseas security commitments and its capacity to meet them. Japan's present constitution does not reflect the freely expressed view of the Japanese people; rather, it was drafted and forced on the Japanese government by the occupation authorities in the wake of the former's defeat in World War II. Japan does not and will not have the capacity to affect the delicate US-Soviet balance on the level of either strategic or theater nuclear forces, but, barring unanticipated changes, one would expect that general nuclear deterrence would be likely to remain in place in a global confrontation, making the conventional aspect of war all the more decisive. Japan, in general, agrees with the findings presented to the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Workshop entitled "Implications of Sino-American Military Cooperation".
