Attack from space would trigger collective defence, say US and Japan, amid China fears

Antony Blinken says China is greatest shared strategic challenge' in the region as US backs Japan's biggest military build-up since second world war

The US and Japan have said that an attack in space would trigger their security treaty, as senior officials from both countries warned that China represents the greatest strategic challenge" to regional security.

We agree that [China] is the greatest shared strategic challenge that we, our allies and partners face," the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Thursday after meeting his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi, in Washington.