Nigeria, Nov. 11 -- Japan's new prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, is stirring the pot - notably on regional security matters. He has proposed something that has done more than raise a few eyebrows in the foreign and defence ministries of several countries. An Asian version of NATO, he has suggested, was an idea worth considering, notably given China's ambitions in the region. "The creation of an Asian version of NATO is essential to deter China by its Western allies," he revealed to the Washington-based Hudson Institute in September.

During his campaign for office, Ishiba had mooted changes to the deployment arrangements of the Japan Self-Defence Forces and the need to move beyond the purely bilateral approach to regional security anchored...