The 1990s: From a Drifting Relationship to a Redefinition of the Alliance

Abstract

During the Cold War, the US had strategically adopted an accommodating stance to Japan in order to keep it within the Western Bloc, regardless of how severe trade frictions between the two countries became. However, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US government took a conspicuously confrontational approach, frankly addressing any demands or dissatisfaction with Japan. The outbreak of the Gulf crisis in summer 1990 only emphasized the gap in understanding between pacifist Japan and the US. President George Bush played a key role in preserving the international order in this sudden crisis directly after the end of the Cold War. Then, the Japan–US Security Treaty was reinforced again following the regional security challenges such as the North Korean nuclear crises and the missile crisis instigated by China in the Taiwan Strait left no question that it should be kept in place. Concerns of a “drifting” alliance led to redefinition of the security alliance in 1996. The administration of George W. Bush, who entered office in 2001, criticized the pro-China stance of the previous administration under Clinton and made it clear that emphasis would be placed on the Japan–US alliance. Prime Minister Koizumi Junichirō, who came to power in the same period with overwhelming support from the Japanese people, established a close relationship with President Bush reminiscent of that between Reagan and Nakasone in the 1980s.