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| Alliance Politics and Territorial Disputes in the East Asian Security Framework: China's Disputes with Japan and the Philippines over Diaoyu Islands and the South China Sea |
| Nanjing University |
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Abstract Much research has been done on alliance and alliance commitment, but little has addressed the question that under what conditions will a nation intervene in the dispute over territory and sovereignty between its alliance with a third party. In fact, the existence of alliance relations is not the prerequisite that a nation will assist its ally in a territorial dispute. The nation's willingness of intervention and degree of involvement are subject to three factors: alliance obligation, benefits from the intervention, and risks of alliance entanglement. These differences explain why the US officially claimed that the US⁃Japan Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security applies to dispute over Diaoyu Islands, while refuses to provide its defense commitment to the Philippines when it comes to the South China Sea. Although we should not exaggerate the alliance's deterrence effect on territorial disputes, we need bear in mind that the US's unneutral intervention would only intensify regional disputes in East Asia and aggravate the complexity to a peaceful settlement.
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2019, Vol. 27 
