New Coalitions Form To Counter China’s Provocations Across Asia

There’s a churn underway in East Asia and this is not just about Chinese naval vessels steaming through the South China Sea in their campaign of intimidation and land-and-sea grabbing.  It’s about long-time treaty allies seeking to step up their relationship at a time when the seas around them are under increasing threat from China.

On April 10, President Biden hosted Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House, where the two leaders made some historic announcements and unveiled more than 70 programmes and initiatives.

“This visit is historic,” says Dr Satoru Nagao, non-resident scholar at the Hudson Institute, “since Japan is now a security provider in the region.”

Speaking to The Gist on Stratnews Global, he noted that the role of security provider is a far cry from the traditional suspicion with which Tokyo is viewed in southeast and northeast Asia, given its history of colonial subjugation, wars and large scale killing of civilians.  But times are a changing and the increasing threat from China has much to do with it.