Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, concerned about China's rising military spending and the dispute over the Senkaku Islands, has signed a new partnership agreement with NATO.
The accord, signed on Tuesday by Abe and NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen during Abe's visit to the Western military alliance's Brussels headquarters, will deepen Japan's cooperation with NATO in areas such as counterpiracy, disaster relief and humanitarian assistance.
After addressing ambassadors from the 28 NATO nations, Abe drew a parallel between the situation in Ukraine, where Russia has occupied and annexed Crimea, and Asia, in an apparent allusion to a standoff between Beijing and Tokyo over tiny uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, known as Diaoyu in China.