And it keeps getting worse for Peking:
India and Japan pledged to step up military cooperation, as Tokyo tries to move closer to the South Asian nation which is seeking to modernize its armed forces.
Indian Defense Minister Pranab Mukherjee was at the start of a visit to Japan and China, which have seen growing friction with each other and are both seeking to improve ties with New Delhi.
Mukherjee and Japanese Defense Agency Director-General Fukushiro Nukaga signed an agreement to "promote wide-range cooperation in the defense and security field" including in technical areas and training.
The two democracies share the goals of promoting "peace and stability in Asia and at the global level" and of countering terrorism and the spread of weapons of mass destruction, a joint statement said.
They called for greater military coordination including meetings between defense chiefs at regular intervals and the holding of a "defense policy dialogue" between the two countries.
While the agreement was short on details, the Indian delegation was also meeting companies in hopes that "Japanese defense industries will play a niche role in India's defense modernization," as an Indian defense ministry statement put it earlier.
Look at who our respective friends are in the area.
We have India, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan as major players who are friends. Vietnam is not in this category but is no friend of China's. Add Singapore and good relations with others like Thailand, Malaya, and Indonesia. Even Pakistan is more with us than with China. Even Mongolia is friendly. And add in Afghanistan on China's border.
China's friends in the region include Burma and North Korea. Oh, and Russia sells arms to China. And let's not forget some Maoist terrorists in Nepal.
I may worry about China, but they are not ten feet tall. I wouldn't want to trade places with them for all the tea in--oh, never mind, you get the idea.
