For over 50 years, the United States has enjoyed a preeminent position in the world’s military and strategic affairs. It has been able to maintain this leadership through a combination of the strength of its domestic economy (allowing it to maintain a large standing military) and a series of global alliances in Europe and Asia. A key component of these alliances has been two critical allies – one in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific, namely Britain and Japan. Both are maritime democratic nations at opposite ends of the Eurasian continent and both have been historically pro-American. Britain was America’s partner in World War Two, and Japan was one of the nations they both helped defeat and rebuild as a Western power.
During the Cold War, Europe was the principal cause of concern for US policy planners making NATO its most important strategic defense realtionship. Within that, Britain was America’s most steadfast ally and a consistent voice for Washington within the European community. Underpinning the “special relationship” was Britain’s strong military and its ability to project this power along side US forces, most recently in Iraq and Afghanistan. Proposed defense cuts, however, threaten to undermine this critical ally at the very moment that the US needs military support to meet its global commitments. This is a cause of concern.
On the other side of the world, Japan is set to vote out its Liberal Democratic Party from power. The LDP has been the dominant force in Japanese politics since World War Two and the principal voice for the country’s pro-American policies. The opposition parties have made much noise about renegotiating the US alliance, stressing the importance of upgrading relations with China – America’s most important economic partner and nearest strategic rival. This is especially disturbing because the principal theater of America’s strategic focus is shifting from Europe to Asia.
In the end analysis, neither country is going to shed its pro-American policies. Britain has too many historic and cultural ties to the US. Moreover, its relationship with Washington has allowed it to punch above its weight globally. Japan’s security apprehensions about China are not going to go away. A strong US presence in Asia is in its continued interests, no matter what the new government may publicly say.
Nevertheless, the ability of Britain to shoulder some of America’s global burden, and the willingness of Japan to underwrite America’s role in Asia should be a cause for some concern for US security planners.
Washington needs to pay special attention to these special countries, and not allow local electoral or economic difficulties undermine its global reach.
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