This thesis is an exploratory research that analysis Japan’s current Taiwan position. This was done by examining four themes: 1. The evolving place of Taiwan in Japan’s security policy and...Show moreThis thesis is an exploratory research that analysis Japan’s current Taiwan position. This was done by examining four themes: 1. The evolving place of Taiwan in Japan’s security policy and political discourse. 2. The development of Japan’s security policy and the turn towards a more sovereign security policy of Japan. 3. The development and strengthening of the U.S.-Japan alliance. And, 4. the introduction of the FOIP strategy. These themes were extracted from the literature. However, the literature in this field is quickly outdated. Besides no author in the literature did examine the four themes together with regard to Japan’s Taiwan position. Research was done through text analysis and comparative analysis. All themes show that Japan increasingly promotes values like: democracy, respect for human rights, the rule of law, and a capitalist economy, which it shares with the U.S. and Taiwan. Although, by now, Japan more openly supports Taiwan as a democracy, no costly signalling towards Taiwan was done since no explicit cost was attached to the signals. Instead, I argued that Japan did send a costly signal to the U.S. by explicitly stating that the alliance is unwavering and that Japan and the U.S. together are increasingly promoting their shared (universal) values. The value politics that Japan and the U.S. envision can be seen in a broader spectrum of countries and alliances promoting values. China, for example, promotes its own values. Values that clash with the shared values that the U.S. and Japan promote. Since value’s legitimize actions to protect those value and two different value systems vie for their influence on Taiwan and both see the other as an infringement on their own value system, the Taiwan issue is cause for serious concern.Show less
