In an implicit message to China, the Japanese and U.S. militaries teamed up this week for a number of joint exercises involving warships, heavy bombers, advanced fighter jets and an aircraft carrier in the waters and airspace near Japan.
The scale and tempo of the multiple joint exercises was noticeably large and came as Sino-U.S. tensions continued to spiral over security, economic and human rights concerns.
Amid growing acrimony between the two superpowers, Tokyo has looked to maintain balance in its economic and security interests involving Beijing and Washington, but has taken part in a number of less-provocative joint military drills with the U.S. in recent days.