How U.S. ties to Japan help manage rising challenge of China - Harvard Gazette

The strategic relationship between the United States and Japan faces both perceived and real challenges in the Indo-Pacific. Doubts about U.S. reliability as an ally are viewed as unfounded, with confidence that the U.S. remains committed. The main real challenge is building more integrated deterrence between Tokyo and Washington that extends beyond security. Deterrence depends on whether countries in the region have alternatives to Chinese pressure in both military and economic realms. The Free and Open Indo-Pacific approach is presented as a flexible framework for creative deterrence that promotes connectivity, resilience, security, and prosperity together. Flexibility is emphasized as important for countering China’s Belt and Road Initiative by offering an alternative model of infrastructure and development cooperation. The framework can include allies, partners, and non-aligned states, including non-democratic countries, because of its malleability.

"“It's about whether the region, at the end of the day, has alternatives to Chinese pressure both militarily but also in the economic realm,” said Weinstein."

"“It is an institutional expression of creative deterrence,” Weinstein said, “one that promotes connectivity, resilience, security, and prosperity simultaneously.”"

"Weinstein spoke mainly in the context of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP), a flexible diplomatic strategy put forth by former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2016."

"FOIP doesn't just include allies and direct partners of Japan, but also non-democratic states and countries that don't formally align with China or Japan and the U.S. Weinstein said that the malleability makes"

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