ABSTRACT
As discussed in Chapters 1 and 2, Japan’s growing enthusiasm for Asia-Pacific security multilateralism in the early 1990s was grounded not only in hopes for the promotion of cooperative security measures but also the expectation that multilateral security dialogue could be a means of addressing its wider security concerns. Firstly, Japanese policy makers saw multi-lateral security dialogue as an instrument for reassuring its Asian neighbours about the future direction of its security policy. Secondly, they also expected that it could be used as a vehicle for engaging or constraining non-like-minded countries, most notably China. And finally, Japan hoped that in the long-term, multilateral discussions on potentially destabilising issues, such as the South China Sea dispute, in the ARF would help facilitate policy coordination and cooperation among concerned countries on those issues.
