Temple University Japan

Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies

Royal Navy Carrier Strike Group visiting Japan

Speaker:  Philip Shetler-Jones

Monday 25 August 2025 10:00-11:15 (Tokyo Time)

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Overview

Philip Shetler-Jones will discuss what this deployment tells us about the importance of the Indo-Pacific and the UK-Japan strategic partnership for the UK, and what it means for Japan and the region. A UK Carrier Strike Group (CSG) last visited Japan in 2021, but due to the restrictions imposed by Covid, various activities were curtailed. This time, the group returns under changed circumstances. The war in Ukraine since 2022 and attendant threat perception towards Russia has become the major security preoccupation in Europe. The second Trump administration has communicated its determination to shift the defence burden in Europe onto its NATO allies, in order to focus on China. Senior figures in the US administration and INDOPACOM have sent mixed messages about the relative value of countries like the UK committing resources to Indo-Pacific security. Japan, on the other hand, has consistently welcomed the contribution of friendly countries from outside the region, and identifies the UK as its most important security partner in Europe. This presentation will address questions about the sustainability of the UK commitment, the clarity of intentions behind the deployment, and whether or not it achieved its purposes.

 

Speaker

Dr Philip Shetler-Jones is Senior Research Fellow for Indo-Pacific Security at the UK think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI).

Dr Shetler-Jones began his career with a commission in the UK Royal Marine Commandos from 1991-1996. Inspired by experience with peacekeeping in Bosnia, he left the Marines to take up positions as a civilian in PKO missions and headquarters with the United Nations, the European Union, NATO, the Organisation for Security Cooperation in Europe. He continued consulting on mission planning and analysis with the UK Ministry of Defence.

Prior to joining RUSI, Dr Shetler-Jones was coordinator in the project 'Enhancing Security Cooperation in and With Asia' (ESIWA) for the EU and led the international security program at the World Economic Forum. Dr Shetler-Jones holds a PhD (on Japan's post Cold War security national policy), MA and BA from The University of Sheffield (in Japanese Studies) and an MA from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University. He has been a visiting fellow at the Council on Geostrategy and is a Honorary Research Fellow at the School of East Asian Studies at the University of Sheffield, and a fellow of the Strategic Communications Education and Research Unit at the Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Tokyo. https://www.rusi.org/people/shetler-jones

 

Moderator/organiser: Robert Dujarric, Temple University Japan.

Contact/questions: dujarric@tuj.temple.edu

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