PAKATAN KESELAMATAN AMERIKA SYARIKAT-JEPUN: SATU ANALISIS KEPENTINGAN STRATEGIK AMERIKA SYARIKAT DI ERA PASCA PERANG DINGIN

This article analyses the strategic importance of the United States (US)-Japan security alliance to the US, in the larger framework of Northeast Asia security dynamics in the post-Cold War era. The article is based on the central argument that the US Japan alliance has dislayed dynamism by embracing new challenges that confronts the region in recent decades, thus ensuring its relevancy as an important security alliance. To elucidate the argument, the article is divided into four sections. The first section will briefly discuss the historical reasons for the existence of this alliance. The second section will examine the evolution of US stance towards the alliance during the last two and the current administrations, namely Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations. The third section examines the interplay of US strategic and security interests in response to the emerging security concerns in Northeast Asia, and how it plays into the US’s stance towards its security alliance with Japan. The final section will provide a concluding analysis of the revelance of this alliance to the larger interests of the US in the region.