Indo-Pacific Analysis Brief Vol 45
Japan’s post-WWII regime:
a roadblock to ‘JAUKUS’
April 2024
Ryosuke Hanada
Ryosuke Hanada is s a PhD student and sessional teaching staff member at the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University. He was a Research Fellow at the Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA), researching Japan’s foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific region from 2016 to 2020.
Key Messages
↗ Japan is a natural strategic choice to expand AUKUS Pillar II because of its advanced manufacturing and defence capabilities.
↗ However, its restrictive arms transfer regulations and weak anti-espionage laws rooted in post-WWII pacifism mean JAUKUS isn’t yet a realistic possibility.
↗ Japan’s security environment is increasingly tense. Tokyo should work hard to amend these laws to enable Japan’s potential to contribute to more defence technological partnerships, especially AUKUS.
