An ideal characterization of when a subspace of certain Banach spaces has the metric compact approximation property

C.-M. Cho and W. B. Johnson showed that if a subspace E of ${\displaystyle {\ell }_p}$, 1 < p < ∞, has the compact approximation property, then K(E) is an M-ideal in ℒ(E). We prove that for every r,s ∈ ]0,1] with ${\displaystyle r^2+s^2<1}$, the James space can be provided with an equivalent norm such that an arbitrary subspace E has the metric compact approximation property iff there is a norm one projection P on ℒ(E)* with Ker P = K(E)^{⊥} satisfying ∥⨍∥ ≥ r∥Pf∥ + s∥φ - Pf∥ ∀⨍ ∈ ℒ(E)*. A similar result is proved for subspaces of upper p-spaces (e.g. Lorentz sequence spaces d(w, p) and certain renormings of ${\displaystyle L^p}$).