BibTex Citation Data :
@article{JIS35814, author = {Arief Darmawan}, title = {Japan’s Balanced Strategy to Face China’s Threat in South China Sea Dispute}, journal = {Jurnal Ilmu Sosial}, volume = {19}, number = {2}, year = {2020}, keywords = {Balance of Threat; Energy Security; Foreign Policy; Japan; South China Sea Dispute}, abstract = { This paper aims to analyze Japan’s foreign policy related to the dispute in the South China Sea (SCS). Even though Japan has no sovereignty claims, it has considerable interests in the SCS region. Japan, which is poor in natural resources, depends on energy imports, most of which are shipped through SCS. As an advanced industrial state, Japan must continue to meet domestic energy demand. However, the SCS area has a potential conflict due to Chinese assertive behavior as the main factor that could threaten Japanese interests. The author use qualitative method with relevant literature studies and official government documentation to conduct a descriptive analysis of the research findings. The results of the study indicate that Japan is implementing a balanced strategy to deal with the potential threat of China. Balancing against threats is conducted in internal ways, e.g. internal reinforcement, and external ways, e.g. forming and strengthening cooperation with other countries outside the United States (US). Since Japan's limitations in military aspect hindered their internal reinforcement, this study emphasizes Japan's external balance strategy. The increasingly dubious US commitment in the Asia Pacific has made Japan strengthen defense cooperation with Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The three countries have interest in SCS and provide access that conforms to Japanese interests. }, issn = {2548-4893}, pages = {137--159} doi = {10.14710/jis.19.2.2020.137-159}, url = {https://ejournal.undip.ac.id/index.php/ilmusos/article/view/35814} }
Refworks Citation Data :
This paper aims to analyze Japan’s foreign policy related to the dispute in the South China Sea (SCS). Even though Japan has no sovereignty claims, it has considerable interests in the SCS region. Japan, which is poor in natural resources, depends on energy imports, most of which are shipped through SCS. As an advanced industrial state, Japan must continue to meet domestic energy demand. However, the SCS area has a potential conflict due to Chinese assertive behavior as the main factor that could threaten Japanese interests. The author use qualitative method with relevant literature studies and official government documentation to conduct a descriptive analysis of the research findings. The results of the study indicate that Japan is implementing a balanced strategy to deal with the potential threat of China. Balancing against threats is conducted in internal ways, e.g. internal reinforcement, and external ways, e.g. forming and strengthening cooperation with other countries outside the United States (US). Since Japan's limitations in military aspect hindered their internal reinforcement, this study emphasizes Japan's external balance strategy. The increasingly dubious US commitment in the Asia Pacific has made Japan strengthen defense cooperation with Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam. The three countries have interest in SCS and provide access that conforms to Japanese interests.
Article Metrics:
Last update:
Last update: 2026-07-25 14:45:54
All open access articles published in Jurnal Ilmu Sosial (JIS) are released under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License). This license permits the following:
Readers may share, copy, and redistribute the article in any medium or format, provided that appropriate credit is given to the author(s). The work may not be used for commercial purposes, and no modifications, adaptations, translations, or derivative works are permitted. The article must be distributed in its original form.
Copyright of all published articles is retained by the respective author(s). The authors grant Jurnal Ilmu Sosial (JIS) a non-exclusive license to publish the article and to identify itself as the original publisher. This license also includes the right for the journal to distribute the article as part of its publication, including in printed or electronic formats, for non-commercial dissemination.
Although the restrictions of the CC BY-NC-ND license do not limit the authors’ own rights as copyright holders, by submitting an article to Jurnal Ilmu Sosial (JIS), authors acknowledge and accept that readers and third parties are granted the right to access, read, download, and share the article without alteration and for non-commercial purposes only, in accordance with the terms of the license.