James L. Schoff is no longer with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
James L. Schoff is a senior fellow in the Carnegie Asia Program. His research focuses on U.S.-Japan relations and regional engagement, Japanese politics and security, and the private sector’s role in Japanese policymaking. He previously served as senior adviser for East Asia policy at the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense and as director of Asia Pacific Studies at the Institute for Foreign Policy Analysis (IFPA).
At the Department of Defense, Schoff was responsible for strategic planning and policy development for relations with Japan and the Republic of Korea. He also spearheaded trilateral initiatives and regional security cooperation issues, including North Korea and missile defense, disaster relief, and maritime security.
From 2003 to 2010, Schoff directed Asia Pacific Studies at IFPA in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he specialized in East Asian security issues, U.S. alliance relations in the region, and nuclear nonproliferation and extended deterrence. Prior to joining IFPA, he served as program officer in charge of policy studies at the United States-Japan Foundation in New York, following six years living in Japan and other parts of Asia working in the fields of business, education, and journalism.
Schoff has written extensively on East Asian security and foreign policy issues. His publications include: Uncommon Alliance for the Common Good: The United States and Japan after the Cold War (Carnegie, 2017), “What Myanmar Means for the U.S.-Japan Alliance,” (Carnegie, 2014), a chapter in Strategy in the Second Nuclear Age; Power, Ambition, and the Ultimate Weapon (Georgetown University Press, 2012), and Tools for Trilateralism: Improving U.S.-Japan-Korea Cooperation to Manage Complex Contingencies (Potomac Books Inc., 2005).
Participants expressed similar worries about gaps between the United States and Japan with regards to their stance on Hong Kong. A discrepancy exists between the two countries regarding their respective abilities to address these concerns.
The United States and Japan have much to gain from greater collaboration on science and technology. But first, the two allies need more coordinated information security practices.
Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide and U.S. President Joe Biden find themselves in an unenviable position, as fifth-generation (5G) mobile telecommunications networks are being rolled out in their countries to fulfill the promise of faster speeds to help bolster their economies.
James Schoff, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Asia Program, explains the U.S. position on the close relationship between Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, and how Washington views economic cooperation between the two neighbors.
The Biden administration is finalizing its trade and technology policy approach for the next four years, and this approach could differ noticeably from both a traditional free-trade/techno-globalist style and Trump’s “America First” brand of protectionism.
Before the Biden administration finalizes its trade and technology promotion policies, it is useful to look back at the past four years in a U.S.-Japan alliance context with a critical eye and develop an evidence-based evaluation of goals, means, and ends.
U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration are breaking out onto Asia's diplomatic stage in a big way, beginning with the first-ever leaders' meeting of the "Quad" (the United States, Japan, Australia and India).
Nobukatsu Kanehara, Akio Takahara, Amy Searight, and Patricia M. Kim confer with James L. Schoff and Matake Kamiya on the evolving Japanese and American perspectives toward China and prospects in the year ahead.
Challenges, opportunities, and major events await Japan in 2021, notably related to its recovery from the global pandemic, hosting of the delayed Summer Olympics, the beginnings of the Suga and Biden administrations, and various geopolitical and security developments.
Unfortunately, the promise of U.S. democracy and the vitality that often flows from its liberty and diversity is in danger of being overwhelmed by tribalism and economic inequality.