ngst others but also a chance to build a partnership with China. Henceforward, the multilateral dialogues met the security interests of the US as well.For other Asian countries, they gained voice in the regional security affairs, preventing US-Japan alliance to take a strong leadership role in their security. New relations became possible for many nations without antagonizing either Japan or China. There seemed to be fair amount of reasons for every country to engage in the security entity for everyone.Finally, through the confidence building measure of a multilateral system, Japan as well as other members would gain military information of others. Japans security relations with her neighbors have been antagonized and instable due to her aggression in the 1930s and 40s. Distrust from her neighbors has put Japan under a constant retaliation threat. Thus, military capability transparency was crucial for Japan to gain security in the region. Even in General context, realistically speaking, military transparency is what every country can benefit for her security. Therefore, through multilateral security entity, every member, including Japan, mutually gains a piece of military information of others without hostile mood.An Asian security entity originally suggested under ASEAN, Japan thus pushed for a multilateral security system under ASEAN. The result is the establishment of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in 1993. The forum aims to develop a more predictable constructive pattern of relations for the Asia-Pacific through political and security cooperation (Ortuoste). In another words, it is not a collective defense organization, nor is it a collective security entity against a specific enemy. Also, the system is mostly based on talks and consensus, rather than constructive voting. In terms of military capability transparency, defense policy document of each member is on voluntary basis. Quality and quantity may vary depending on...
