The Balance Sheet of U.S. Allies

Comparative Study between Asia and Europe

March 13, 2019

There is no doubt that the Japan-U.S. Alliance remains the cornerstone of Japanese security policy as well as being the most rational means for providing for Japan’s national defense. However, in the United States, criticism of unilateralism or asymmetry in the Japan-U.S. Alliance remains persistent. Thus, it is likely that the US will demand its allies to share an ever greater portion of the defense burden in the future.

Under such circumstances, U.S. allies need to consider ways to sustain the alliance relationship whilst minimizing any increase of its military role and defense contributions. To this purpose, it is essential to reveal and underline the full spectrum of advantage and disadvantage that U.S. allies can bring to the alliance in order to highlight its overall strategic importance to the U.S.

Based on the results of the study, SPF completed a report of our study.

For information on related projects and the original text of the report (in English), please refer to the following page:
https://www.spf.org/en/security/programs/V20180171.html

* The content of this report does not indicate the views of the respective nations or specific organizations to which the authors belong.

Description

Author/Editor	Naomi Konda
Date of Publication	March 2019
Content	Foreword The Balance Sheet of the U.S. Allies: Introduction Taiwan’s Important Assets and Liabilities in East Asia Security: Ties with the U.S. and Pressure from China Lithuania – Faithful and Capable U.S. Ally in the Far Corner of NATO Japan Enjoys More Assets than Liabilities on the Balance Sheet of the Alliance: Political Willingness and Support are Critical as well as Fundamental Assets Poland – The “Center of Gravity” in the CEE Region and a “Poster Child” of the Trump Administration Australia and the U.S. Alliance: Balancing “Loyalty” against “Dependence” U.S.-German Alliance: Friends on Stormy Waters Balance Sheet of U.S. Allies

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