Professor Yee-Kuang HENG’s article titled “Japan in the Gulf: Between Washington and Tehran” was published in an academic journal, The International Spectator.<\/p>\n
Whereas Japan\u2019s hedging vis-\u00e0-vis China in the Indo-Pacific has predominantly been the focus of academic analysis, hedging also explains Tokyo\u2019s policy choices in the Gulf to a significant degree. Yet, existing literature has largely overlooked Japan\u2019s hedging behaviour in the Gulf, which had to navigate the uncertainties generated by two competing powers, the United States and Iran. As hedging theory is above all concerned with risk, Japan\u2019s policies demonstrate a concern with managing risks and the adverse consequences of misalignment or alignment. Tokyo\u2019s attempts to serve as what former Foreign Minister Kono Taro called an \u201chonest broker\u201d, however, have not enabled it to shape the evolving regional security architecture. Japan\u2019s propensity to deploy hedging more effectively in the Gulf may be shaped by domestic political considerations, pressing security challenges closer to home and personalities of key Japanese politicians such as late former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.<\/p>\n
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