Japan’s national security is rapidly changing. Asia is shifting from an era of prosperity and peace to one of contestation and rivalry between powerful leaders. North Korea has grown emboldened and appears no closer to denuclearisation than when Kim Jong Un embraced dialogue with US President, Donald Trump, in 2017. Xi Jinping’s China is more confident, assertive and nationalistic than ever, and there is fresh uncertainty about Japan’s security partner, the United States.

In this challenging security environment, Japan has signalled a desire to change its foreign and defence policy to secure greater regional and global influence. What role is it seeking to play in Prime Minister Abe’s vision of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific? How will it establish and maintain space for itself in the region? What are the prospects for closer security cooperation between Australia and Japan?

In conversation:

- Associate Professor Tsuruoka Michito (Graduate School of Media and Governance at Keio University, formerly Senior Research Fellow at the National Institute for Defense Studies, Tokyo).

A La Trobe Asia event supported by the Consulate General of Japan in Melbourne

Recorded at State Library of Victoria on 11 November 2019.