Tokyo’s Tightrope: Japan’s Foreign Policy Goals Amid U.S. Strategic Recalibration
Virtual, Members-only Briefing
Wednesday, April 16, 2025 | 6:00 – 7:15 PM EDT
As the Indo-Pacific grows more contested, U.S.-Japan relations face new tests and opportunities. Tokyo, seeking greater autonomy and strategic clarity, is recalibrating its foreign policy priorities to address growing threats from China and North Korea, deepen economic partnerships, and shape a rules-based regional order. At the same time, questions remain about Washington’s long-term commitment and vision for the region. This discussion will examine the evolving nature of the U.S.-Japan alliance and Tokyo’s strategic ambitions in East Asia.
Join us on Wednesday, April 16, from 6:00 – 7:15 PM EDT for a discussion with Dr. Sheila Smith, John E. Merow Senior Fellow for Asia-Pacific Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. An expert on Japanese politics and foreign policy, Dr. Smith is the author of Japan Rearmed: The Politics of Military Power; Intimate Rivals: Japanese Domestic Politics and a Rising China; and Japan’s New Politics and the U.S.-Japan Alliance. This conversation will provide key insights into Japan’s evolving role in an increasingly complex geopolitical environment.
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SPEAKER:
Dr. Sheila Smith
Sheila A. Smith is John E. Merow senior fellow for Asia-Pacific studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). An expert on Japanese politics and foreign policy, she is the author of Japan Rearmed: The Politics of Military Power, Intimate Rivals: Japanese Domestic Politics and a Rising China (released in Japanese as 日中 親愛なる宿敵: 変容する日本政治と対中政策), and Japan’s New Politics and the U.S.-Japan Alliance. She is also the author of the CFR interactive guide Constitutional Change in Japan. Smith is a regular contributor to the CFR blog Asia Unbound and a frequent contributor to major media outlets in the United States and Asia.
Smith joined CFR from the East-West Center in 2007, where she directed a multinational research team in a cross-national study of the domestic politics of the U.S. military presence in Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines. She was a visiting scholar at Keio University in 2007-08, where she researched Japan’s foreign policy towards China, supported by the Abe Fellowship. Smith has been a visiting researcher at two leading Japanese foreign and security policy think tanks, the Japan Institute of International Affairs and the Research Institute for Peace and Security, and at the University of Tokyo and the University of the Ryukyus.
Smith is chair of the Japan-U.S. Friendship Commission (JUSFC) and the U.S. advisors to the U.S.-Japan Conference on Cultural and Educational Interchange (CULCON), a binational advisory panel of government officials and private-sector members. She teaches as an adjunct professor at the Asian studies department of Georgetown University and serves on the board of its Journal of Asian Affairs. She also serves on the advisory committee for the U.S.-Japan Network for the Future program of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation.
Smith earned her MA and PhD from the political science department at Columbia University.
THIS SESSION IS FREE FOR NETWORK 20/20’s MEMBERS
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Image Credit: Free Malaysia Today
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