'Strong US-Japan alliance could be ideal in countering China's ambitions': US Experts

A strengthening alliance between the United States and Japan could be the ideal step forward for incoming US President-elect Joe Biden's administration to rebuild strategic, economic, technological and governing norms and to counter China's growing ambitions, according to analysts and former US officials.

Even though the US shares a growing interest with Europe, Canada, Southeast Asia and Australia in foiling many parts of China's plans for global expansion, analysts said that none of these areas fit as naturally as Washington and Tokyo.

"When the US and Japan work together, we can shape the environment in which Chinese power increases... Our alliance [is] going well beyond security ... in technology and in economic assistance, the infrastructure to counter the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative [BRI], you'll see that Japanese leadership is crucial," said Joseph Nye, former US assistant secretary of defence and former dean of Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

Former US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage and Joseph Nye were speaking at an event by Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in with regards to a report that the think tank published on Monday.

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"Biden won't be soft on China"

The CSIS report titled "The US-Japan Alliance in 2020: An Equal Alliance with a Global Agenda", comes as the incoming Biden administration seems determined to make coalitions, economic partnerships and multilateral organisations that are central to its strategy in pushing back China.

Armitage opined that the Biden administration will not be soft on China, as the officials listed for assistant secretary jobs in the Pentagon and the State Department are the hardest liners on China.

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"If the Biden administration had a desire to be soft on China, which I don't believe they had, the attitude on Capitol Hill both the Democrats and Republicans has shifted remarkably on China, and there's not much of a pro-China lobby left in Washington. So, the short answer is no. I don't think there's anything to be worried about," he said.

"If you look across the issues we have with China, the US and Japan in some cases are the only two countries that agree on all elements," Zack Cooper, a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said during an interview.

As per reports, Japanese security experts have said that while many nations welcome a more globally engaged Washington under Biden, times have changed and the US should share the job of forging alliances and coordinating policy initiatives.

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(With inputs from agency)