Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 05/2014

The Slow Death of Japanese Techno-Nationalism? Comparative Lessons for China's Future Defense Production

Christopher W. Hughes

September 2010

Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, University of California

Abstract

Japan’s defense production model is often seen as a successful exemplar of “techno-nationalism,” especially in the integration of the civilian and military sectors. Hence, Japan’s model has been considered as offering possible lessons for China to emulate in the reform of its own defense industry. But Japan’s defense production model, despite arguable past successes, is now experiencing what is often referred to by Japanese policymakers and industrialists as a “slow death” as its structural development limitations have been increasingly revealed over the past two decades.