Rethinking the San Francisco System in Indo-Pacific Security (eBook)

This remarkable collection commemorates the 70^th anniversary of the 1951 San Francisco Peace Conference by revisiting the important legacies of both the Peace Treaty and the US-Japan Security Treaty have had on the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific. Drawing on multiple perspectives, the volume conveys the hopes and fears that the authors have for the domestic and international politics of the region. In a post Trumpian world marked by the US-China tensions amidst a raging pandemic, the region's continued prosperity looks exceedingly grim.  Would the arrangements made in 1951 continue to have relevance for an Indo-Pacific region beset by great power rivalry and potential conflict fuelled by contending nationalisms, clashing interests and territorial disputes? Through a rigorous debate based on the latest empirical developments, the volume explores various ways where by the spirit and legacies of San Francisco arrangements can be meaningfully preserved and enhanced. In order for the region stronger and more prosperous in the post-pandemic world, the countries have to come together to enhance the existing security architecture to contain great power rivalry and ensure that a regional order capable of addressing problems of the 21^st century eventually evolves.

Yoneyuki Sugita is professor at Kobe Women's Junior College. He received his Ph.D. from University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1999. His major works include Defamiliarizing Japan's Asia-Pacific War eds. by Michael W. Myers and Puck Brecher (U. of Hawaii Press, 2019); Japan's Search for Strategic Security Partnerships eds. by Gauri Khandekar and Bart Gaens (Routledge, 2017); Japanese Development Cooperation eds. by André Asplund and Marie Soderberg (Routledge, 2017); and Pitfall or Panacea: The Irony of US Power in Occupied Japan 1945-1952 (Routledge, 2003).

Victor Teo is Research Fellow associated with the Beyond Cold War Project based at the University of Cambridge's Centre for Research of Arts Social Sciences and Humanities. He was previously Wang Gungwu Senior Visiting Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute Singapore and served as a faculty member at the University of Hong Kong. He is the author and editor of seven books related to China, Japan and International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, and his latest publication is Japan's Arduous Rejuvenation as a Global Power: Democratic Resilience and the US-China Challenge (Palgrave Macmillan 2019). Dr Teo was called to the Bar of England and Wales by Middle Temple (UK) and received his PhD from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

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This remarkable collection commemorates the 70th anniversary of the 1951 San Francisco Peace Conference by revisiting the important legacies of both the Peace Treaty and the US-Japan Security Treaty have had on the peace and stability of the Asia-Pacific. Drawing on multiple perspectives, the volume conveys the hopes and fears that the authors have for the domestic and international politics of the region. In a post Trumpian world marked by the US-China tensions amidst a raging pandemic, the region's continued prosperity looks exceedingly grim.  Would the arrangements made in 1951 continue to have relevance for an Indo-Pacific region beset by great power rivalry and potential conflict fuelled by contending nationalisms, clashing interests and territorial disputes? Through a rigorous debate based on the latest empirical developments, the volume explores various ways where by the spirit and legacies of San Francisco arrangements can be meaningfully preserved and enhanced. In order for the region stronger and more prosperous in the post-pandemic world, the countries have to come together to enhance the existing security architecture to contain great power rivalry and ensure that a regional order capable of addressing problems of the 21st century eventually evolves.