US, Japan announce expansion of defense ties - Japan - Stripes: The United States and Japan will expand defense ties over cyberspace and regional security threats as they finalize the first revision of security guidelines between the two allies since 1997, defense chiefs from both nations said Wednesday.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani also reaffirmed opposition to the use of coercion and force in the East and South China seas, where several nations hold competing claims on island territories.
“It’s one of the kinds of conduct that is contrary to everything our system of alliances stands for,” Carter said.
China maintains an ambiguous claim to about 90 percent of the South China Sea and its many islands and rocks. Although the defense chiefs did not call out China specifically, its forces have had low-level skirmishes with Japan, the Philippines and Vietnam in recent years.
The new guidelines would give the allies more flexibility to address regional threats, such as North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs and tensions over territorial integrity; however,
