On The Chinese Factor In Japan 's Defense Policy After The Cold War

In the Post-Cold War era, Japan’s defense policy is transforming from exclusively defensive defense to consolidated defense, developing its self-defense force in a proactive and outgoing way, and becoming more involving in international affairs. It is a traditional thinking that the transform of Japan’s defense policy is caused by US-Japan alliance and world pattern. However in this essay, author considerate that China factor has influenced Japan’s defense policy deeply. Every decision making actor brings its own Chinese perception into Japan’s foreign policy making process, resulting China factor as a special element in Japan’s national defense policy. Through analyzing China factor in Japan’s defense policy and the interaction between China’s developing and Japan’s policy making process, author try to find to what extent China fact influence Japan’s Chinese perception and policy choice and give some advices to Sino-Japan relations.This essay has five chapters. The first chapter is a brief introduction of selected research topic. The second chapter is analysis of China factor in Japan’s defense policy, which contains two parts, one is the transformation of Japan’s defense policy after WWII and another is the analysis China factor and its changes. The third chapter is multivariate analysis in Japan’s defense policy making process to explain the interaction between Japan’s decision making actors’ Chinese perception and decision making process. It will take the latest National Defense Program Outline as an example. The fourth chapter is theoretical summary for Japan’s Chinese perception and its policy choice. The last chapter is conclusion in which author give its own opinion and advices for future Sino-Japan relations.