With China expected to assume a greater presence as a regional power both economically and militarily early next century, Japan appears groping for a way to get along with its giant neighbor without disrupting its decades-old security partnership with the United States.
Some political leaders suggest Japan's future relationship with the U.S. and China should form an equilateral triangle, with each of the tips an equal distance from the other. But some advise caution, saying China must first become a true democratic nation before it can even be considered for such a relationship.
Either way, China is bound to have a major effect on the security balance in the Asia-Pacific region, and defense experts say it is time for Japan to chart a course of its own, one that could veer away from the strategy of the U.S.