Japan in the dual dilemma of cooperation and conflict in the face of China's regional challenge (2000-2021)

With the beginning of the new century, East Asia witnessed a redistribution of power and wealth by the structure of the international system; which changed the balance of power to the advantage of China and to the detriment of the region's traditional power, Japan. Accordingly, this study intends to survey the Japanese government's efforts to preserve its regional political and economic position, with the help of descriptive-analytical approach and qualitative method, and with emphasis on the new realism theory. The results of this study shows that Japan, as a declining regional power and with a rational standpoint, by calculating the costs and benefits of the available options, pursues a set of measures to further its national interests, achieving welfare and security goals. Thus, a review of the simultaneous economic, political, and security plans and actions proposed by Japan in response to China's expansionist plans can show the utilitarian foreign policy of the world's superpowers in the face of the threats of emerging powers.