Publication

During his recent visit to Japan, British Prime Minister David Cameron signed a landmark defense cooperation agreement with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda making the United Kingdom Japan’s only defense technology partner after the United States. This paper argues that the agreement says something about the things that Japan and Britain have in common. Both are shedding the “baggage” from their imperial history. Both have enjoyed the security of an alliance with the United States, but quietly nurse a wounded pride as a result. However, the fact that both countries are US allies has no doubt facilitated their cooperation. Indeed, absent evidence to the contrary one may assume Washington approves. Meanwhile, both the United Kingdom and Japan seem to enjoy an opportunity to assert their sovereign independence in a moment when the big stories on Asia are all about a rising China and the US “Pivot.”