This paper investigates three bilateral relationships in Northeast Asia between Japan and the following countries: the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Republic of Korea (ROK), and the Russian...Show moreThis paper investigates three bilateral relationships in Northeast Asia between Japan and the following countries: the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Republic of Korea (ROK), and the Russian Federation. It analyzes factors which enable or complicate confidence-building measures (CBMs) in these relationships to argue that there are stark differences between them. These differences are traced through a historical analysis of factors such as power relations, strategic considerations, attributional distance, regime stability, and public opinion. To position itself critically within literature on confidence-building measures, this paper also examines the role of territorial disputes in bilateral confidence-building. On this topic, it concludes that these types of conflicts do not limit CBMs altogether, but that they act as focal points for the aforementioned factors.Show less
