Alastair Gale

The ethnic Korean group that long served as Pyongyang’s unofficial embassy in Japan is fading, eroding one of the last informal links between the two countries.

Tokyo, Seoul, Canberra and other capitals in the region believe U.S. military power is critical to counter the challenges from China and North Korea.

Japan rejects China’s accusation that it’s pursuing “new militarism,” Tokyo’s defense chief said Sunday, in one of the sharpest responses yet to Beijing’s criticism.

MANILA (Bloomberg): Japan rejected the notion that it's pursuing "new militarism,” the country's defense chief said Sunday, an accusation made by China amid growing tensions between the two countries.

The US and Japan said they remain committed to the denuclearization of North Korea despite China’s apparent downgrading of the subject and Russia’s assertion that it was a “closed issue.”

Japan’s Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi questioned the accuracy of China’s official military spending figures in a fresh sign that Tokyo is taking a tougher line in response to Beijing’s claims that its regional rival is pursuing “new militarism.”

Militaries from the US to China are racing to build sea drones, reshaping warfare across the Indo-Pacific’s vast waters

Chinese coast guard vessels have been asserting Beijing’s claims to maritime borders east of Taiwan and close to a Japanese island, Tokyo’s top government spokesman said, as tension continues to simmer after Japan and the Philippines said in May they would map out their claims in the region.

China warned two Japanese Coast Guard survey vessels to stop operating in the East China Sea in recent days, Japan’s top government spokesman said, unusual moves that highlight elevated tensions over sea border claims in the area and worsening diplomatic ties between Beijing and Tokyo.

The Japanese premier sees India as integral to maintaining the status quo in the Asia-Pacific region.