Regional defense partnerships rise with China’s power

By Andrew Salmon 

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SEOUL — The U.S. and its allies in the long shadow of rising China are forging a complex web of defense relationships, bilateral and multilateral, linking democracies across the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.

This week, Indian and Japanese warplanes kicked off 11 days of joint drills over Japan featuring Japan’s U.S.-made F15s and India’s Russian-built SU30s. In another first, Australian and British paratroopers this month jumped alongside American and Japanese counterparts in the first exercise to unite airborne troops of all four nations in the skies above Japan.

On Jan. 11, Tokyo and London signed a “reciprocal access agreement” enabling an exchange of forces and equipment. It was based on an agreement that Australia and Japan signed a year ago.