Japan-US Alliance and the South China Sea Issue: Implications for Asia-Pacific Security
New nuances in Japan’s policy towards the South China Sea issue reveal Tokyo’s readiness not only to provide it with a further emphasis, but also to transform the pattern of Japan-US alliance towards the modification of the “hub-and-spoke system” from “the US - the alliance partners” to “the US - Japan - the alliance partners”. The implementation of these plans will undermine the coordination of the priorities of Asia-Pacific countries in terms of unifying the parameters of security cooperation in Asia-Pacific and Eurasia, and, by implication, the nascent “Asian century”.