This book examines the development of China’s national ambitions under its current leader Xi Jinping and the dilemma they present for the United States and also Japan. It emphasises the importance of geopolitics, that is the way national strategies and policies are shaped and in some cases determined by geographic location. Focusing especially on China’s national rejuvenation and its rapidly growing military capability and navy, and on the likely impact on the region of China regaining the status and influence it enjoyed in dynastic times, the book highlights the hard choices faced by the United States as it seeks to protect its geopolitical position in the Western Pacific, particularly in the South China Sea, the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan straits. How far should the United States confront China or accommodate China, possibly at the risk of undermining its geopolitical position and its alliance relationships with Japan, Australia and South Korea? The book also discusses the degree to which issues of institution building and economic interdependence can overcome or constrain geopolitical calculations.

The interrelationships of the United States and Japan with Micronesia, a U.S. dependency, and Papua New Guinea, a newly independent nation, are the focus of this study. The authors demonstrate that dependence does not by any means automatically terminate by virtue of a legal change in political status. To a surprising extent, Micronesia (the last UN trusteeship) and independent Papua New Guinea depend for their very survival on the United States and Japan. The authors point out that the interests of the United States and Japan in this region too often–and unnecessarily–operate in isolation from one another and in direct conflict. Cooperative U.S.-Japanese efforts are vital in this area; whatever plans are made for the region, they must be island-specific, culturally congruent, politically sensitive, and economically viable.

This compact, insightful book offers an up-to-the-minute guide to understanding the evolution of maritime territorial disputes in East Asia, exploring their legal, political-security and economic dimensions against the backdrop of a brewing Sino-American rivalry for hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region. It traces the decades-long evolution of Sino-American relations in Asia, and how this pivotal relationship has been central to prosperity and stability in one of the most dynamics regions of the world. It also looks at how middle powers – from Japan and Australia to India and South Korea – have joined the fray, trying to shape the trajectory of the territorial disputes in the Western Pacific, which can, in turn, alter the future of Asia – and ignite an international war that could re-configure the global order. The book examines how the maritime disputes have become a litmus test of China’s rise, whether it has and will be peaceful or not, and how smaller powers such as Vietnam and the Philippines have been resisting Beijing’s territorial ambitions. Drawing on extensive discussions and interviews with experts and policy-makers across the Asia-Pacific region, the book highlights the growing geopolitical significance of the East and South China Sea disputes to the future of Asia – providing insights into how the so-called Pacific century will shape up.

Historian Harry Gailey offers a fresh one-volume treatment of the vast Pacific theater in World War II, examining in detail the performance of Japanese and Allied naval, air, and land forces in every major military operation. The War in the Pacific begins with an examination of events leading up to World War II and compares the Japanese and American economies and societies, as well as the chief combatants' military doctrine, training, war plans, and equipment. The book then chronicles all significant actions - from the early Allied defeats in the Philippines, the East Indies, and New Guinea; through the gradual improvement of the Allied position in the Central and Southwest Pacific regions; to the final agonies of the Japanese people, whose leaders refused to admit defeat until the very end. Gailey gives detailed treatment to much that has been neglected or given only cursory mention in previous surveys. The reader thus gains an unparalleled overview of operations, as well as many fresh insights into the behind-the-scenes bickering between the Allies and the interservice squabbles that dogged MacArthur and Nimitz throughout the war. NOTE: This edition does not include a photo insert.

Japan’s decision to attack the United States in 1941 is widely regarded as irrational to the point of suicidal. How could Japan hope to survive a war with, much less defeat, an enemy possessing an invulnerable homeland and an industrial base 10 times that of Japan? The Pacific War was one that Japan was always going to lose, so how does one explain Tokyo’s decision? Did the Japanese recognize the odds against them? Did they have a concept of victory, or at least of avoiding defeat? Or did the Japanese prefer a lost war to an unacceptable peace? Dr. Jeffrey Record takes a fresh look at Japan’s decision for war, and concludes that it was dictated by Japanese pride and the threatened economic destruction of Japan by the United States. He believes that Japanese aggression in East Asia was the root cause of the Pacific War, but argues that the road to war in 1941 was built on American as well as Japanese miscalculations and that both sides suffered from cultural ignorance and racial arrogance. Record finds that the Americans underestimated the role of fear and honor in Japanese calculations and overestimated the effectiveness of economic sanctions as a deterrent to war, whereas the Japanese underestimated the cohesion and resolve of an aroused American society and overestimated their own martial prowess as a means of defeating U.S. material superiority. He believes that the failure of deterrence was mutual, and that the descent of the United States and Japan into war contains lessons of great and continuing relevance to American foreign policy and defense decision-makers.

This book analyses the growing relationships among India, the United States and Japan in the Indo-Pacific region, which can broadly be defined as the space encompassing both the Indian and the Pacific Oceans, though different nations have their competing visions of its extent. While on the one hand we have an ascendant China in all respects, at the same time, the US has continued interests in maintaining its leadership role in the region and beyond. Washington appears to employ a hub-and-spoke model where its most important ally in the region, Japan, fits in perfectly as a point from which to connect to the rest of the region. However, the critical role will be that of India, which is not an American ally but is key to many American plans in the region. Will India cooperate?By examining the rapidly-evolving relations among the three countries, this book explores India's position in this region. Crucially, this book will analyse how the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic will upset power relations in the region. It is suitable reading for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and practitioners in the fields of international relations, politics, security studies, political science, and geopolitics.

In this devastating exposé, investigative journalist Jon Mitchell reveals the shocking toxic contamination of the Pacific Ocean and millions of victims by the US military. For decades, US military operations have been contaminating the Pacific region with toxic substances, including plutonium, dioxin, and VX nerve agent. Hundreds of thousands of service members, their families, and residents have been exposed—but the United States has hidden the damage and refused to help victims. After World War II, the United States granted immunity to Japanese military scientists in exchange for their data on biological weapons tests conducted in China; in the following years, nuclear detonations in the Pacific obliterated entire islands and exposed Americans, Marshallese, Chamorros, and Japanese fishing crews to radioactive fallout. At the same time, the United States experimented with biological weapons on Okinawa and stockpiled the island with nuclear and chemical munitions, causing numerous accidents. Meanwhile, the CIA orchestrated a campaign to introduce nuclear power to Japan—the folly of which became horrifyingly clear in the 2011 meltdowns in Fukushima Prefecture. Caught in a geopolitical grey zone, US territories have been among the worst affected by military contamination, including Guam, Saipan, and Johnston Island, the final disposal site of apocalyptic volumes of chemical weapons and Agent Orange. Accompanying this damage, US authorities have waged a campaign of cover-ups, lies, and attacks on the media, which the author has experienced firsthand in the form of military surveillance and attempts by the State Department to impede his work. Now, for the first time, this explosive book reveals the horrific extent of contamination in the Pacific and the lengths the Pentagon will go to conceal it.