Line of Advantage: Japan’s Grand Strategy in the Era of Abe Shinzō (Contemporary Asia in the World)

This is an excellent book for people interested in foreign policy or competition with China. There’s a fair bit of Japanese history in here, but Green (a Japan expert at CSIS and a serious Asia policy wonk) focuses on how former prime minister Shinzo Abe has transformed Japanese grand strategy to shape the environment around China by reinforcing the ability of the rest of the Indo-Pacific to resist expansionism by Beijing. Green argues that Japan’s most important answer to the challenge posed by China is the US-Japan alliance, and Abe helped formulate US policy to adopt the Quad. According to Green, “there is no doubt that, of America’s allies, Japan has emerged as the most important thought leader on China strategy.”

If you only read one book on Japan this year "Line of Advantage" should be at the top of your list and required reading for anyone interested in understanding Japan's strategic military, economic, and foreign policy thinking in the twenty-first Century and it's historical antecedents. Especially Chapter 5 on Korea is important reading for officials in Washington, Seoul, and Japan. The only winner in failing to heal the differences between Seoul and Tokyo is China. Washington should make this a top priority in breathing life into FIOP. I found Table C.1 Post-Abe political leaders’ views on national security strategy in the last chapter particularly helpful. Topnotch scholarly writing at its best.

Having listened to Michael Green on the Asia Chessboard podcast, it was good to see him fully express his view of Japan’s new strategic foreign policy and the role Shinzo Abe had in crafting this policy. Green is a hawk when it comes to China. Overall it was a good read. Some Japanese terms were included in text in romaji form. It would have been useful to include native Japanese as well.

Our most important ally in Asia is stirring and exerting its diplomatic, informational, military and economic power, greatly supporting our interests in a very fraught region.

A through analysis of the change in grand strategy that Japan has undertaken under Abe. Green deftly places Abe’s strategy in its historical context whilst providing a detailed account of the intellectual origin, purpose, and implementation of Japanese strategy.