Both Gilbert Rozman and Francois Godement’s articles are stimulating and instructive, and it is a pleasure for me to follow up the debate. Issues raised by Rozman are real. I tend to agree with Godement that it is important to see these complicated issues both from a strategic-realist and a civilizational-constructivist perspective, in that order. If we fail to place these two perspectives in the correct order, then not only do we risk misunderstanding each other, but also the whole debate might get confused. On Japan’s position, rather than responding issue by issue, I had better go back to the holistic picture to follow the right order with which I analyze the present-day situation.

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