Morning Edition · Tuesday, July 21, 2026Published at 1:13 AM EDT · New York

Asian and Mediterranean Rivals Accelerate Rearmament Amid Naval Drills and Jet Fears

China and Russia held live-fire exercises inside Japan's claimed economic zone as Greece strengthens air defenses over the prospect of advanced fighters going to Turkey.

Save

Asian and Mediterranean Rivals Accelerate Rearmament Amid Naval Drills and Jet Fears

Two regions showed the same pattern of accelerating arms competition. The South China Morning Post reported that Japan said Chinese and Russian navy ships conducted joint live-fire drills inside Japan's claimed exclusive economic zone in the Pacific on Sunday, an activity Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi disclosed and that Tokyo treats as a deliberate demonstration of coordinated pressure.

In the eastern Mediterranean, Israeli financial daily Globes reported that regional states fear the sale of advanced F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, and that Greece, unable to oppose the move openly, is accelerating the modernization of its air force using advanced Israeli systems. The response is to build capability rather than to protest.

The common pattern is that governments facing a shifting military balance are choosing to arm rather than to rely on restraint or diplomacy. Each purchase and exercise raises pressure on neighbors to match it, a cycle that sustains defense spending across regions.

Part of a tracked trend

Indo-Pacific Arms Race Accelerates

Over the next 3-6 months a sharpening regional arms race drives Japan and its neighbors to expand militaries and export weapons—Tokyo moving to sell missiles—as maritime confrontations with China multiply and Asian rearmament gathers pace.

Veracity: Corroborated

82/100

If true, who benefits: Arms manufacturers, including Israeli and other Western suppliers, gain sustained procurement; governments justify higher defense budgets by citing each rival's moves.
The nuance: The China-Russia live-fire drill in Japan's exclusive economic zone is confirmed by Tokyo, but the linkage to Greece's fear of Turkish F-35s rests on an Israeli-daily assessment, and the two theaters are joined by the article's framing, not by any operational connection.

An open-source-intelligence read of how likely this story is true with its real nuance, not a judgment of any outlet. It assesses the claim, weighing independent and adversarial reporting. How we label confidence.

What this means

Rearmament in both East Asia and the Mediterranean channels public money into defense procurement and benefits weapons manufacturers, including Israeli and other Western suppliers supplying the arms race. The exposed parties are national budgets, which absorb rising defense costs, and neighbors who feel compelled to respond in kind. The mechanism is action and reaction, where one country's acquisition or exercise justifies the next, locking in higher military spending as a durable claim on fiscal resources.

What to watch

Whether Washington approves the F-35 sale to Turkey, which would trigger further procurement across the eastern Mediterranean.
The frequency and location of joint Chinese-Russian drills near Japan, a gauge of how far the two coordinate military pressure on United States allies.

Observations to monitor, not financial advice.

2 sources

Synthesized from: South China Morning Post · Globes (Hebrew)