Japan and India strengthened their military and economic ties Saturday, signing a high-speed-rail agreement and pledging joint exercises for their navies, as countries across Asia seek to counterbalance China’s growing assertiveness in the region.

Sreeram Chaulia, Dean of the Jindal School of International Affairs, made the thing explicit:

The message is: We don’t want Chinese hegemony in Asia and we’ll work together to create a multipolar Asia[.]

We should encourage this and more agreements like it in the region. More than that, we should work with those in such agreements rather than sitting back and letting them stand on their own.