Just as Japan and India are increasingly aware of America’s eroding influence in Asia, they are also increasingly wary of China’s rise. Both are impressed by the power of Vladimir Putin’s Russia, but also anxious about its ever steepening tilt toward Beijing.

The answer to the shifting tides for each seems to be, at least in the short term, each other.

On September 1, Tokyo will sign a historic deal with India to enter into the first-ever India-Japan defense cooperation agreement. The deal marks a historical change in Asian geopolitics: the first time Japan entered such an agreement outside its three traditional alliance partners—the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.

In July, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe succeeded in changing Japan’s interpretation of its post-World War ii Constitution, which had previously limited the nation’s military to strict self-defense inside its immediate territory. The new interpretation allows for “collective self-defense”—letting Japan use military force to defend its allies under attack. This constitutional change cleared the path for Japan to enter into a broader array of defense agreements, such as this new landmark India-Japan deal.

India is also closer than ever to gaining Japanese backing for a nuclear energy pact, and the two are expected to soon strike an important deal to jointly produce mixed rare earths.

In January, the Trumpet said that Japan, spooked by Sino-Russian cooperation and the unreliability of American security promises, may begin to increasingly lean toward India: “Maybe Tokyo would be able to persuade nations like … India to form an alliance with Japan to counter the China-Russia axis” (“Czars and Emperors”).

The new defense deal shows that Japan could be working toward such an alliance. Our article also explained that such an alliance would probably not last long. “But the strong implication of Bible prophecy is that even if some kind of Japan-led counter-alliance were formed, it would not be long before it joined China and Russia. Back in World War ii, Japan was the only industrialized nation in Asia, so it was able to chart its own course. This time around, that advantage is removed” (ibid).

For a broad view of how the Asian nations will respond to the erosion of U.S. geopolitical power, read “Czars and Emperors.”