ABSTRACT
This chapter examines Japan’s alliance politics toward China by focusing upon the concept of deterrence and shows how this concept was used for domestic credibility. ‘Deterrence by alliances’ is a key mechanism of military security. The use of the term deterrence in international relations is relatively new. While US China policy under the Bush administration gradually moved to engagement and avoided confrontation with China, Japan–China security tensions escalated in 2004–2005 and anti-China feeling skyrocketed in Japanese domestic politics. The second Shinzo Abe government was active in seeking a strengthened US–Japan alliance by regarding China as its primary security object. Japanese conservative political elites and security experts sought to lift the ban on the collective self-defense to ensure US support for the alliance, since the ban in some cases was considered impractical for maintaining the alliance. Japan’s attempts to redefine the US–Japan alliance as a deterrence mechanism against China had limitations.
