As China moves forward with a massive military buildup and challenges Japanese territorial claims to islands between the two countries, a set of newly revised and strengthened security guidelines for the US and Japan is to be signed by lower level officials, while Japan’s leader, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, visits the US on an extended itinerary.  Kirk Spitzer of USA Today writes: U.S. and Japanese defense and foreign ministers plan to sign a new version of the U.S.-Japan Guidelines for Defense Cooperation on Monday. It will be the first update in how the two countries divide roles and missions since 1997, when China's military spending, capabilities and assertiveness were far less than today. Abe has boosted defense spending and sought to ease constitutional restraints on offensive missions by Japan's military. A key goal of the guidelines is to broaden the circumstances under which Japan's armed services — officially known as self-defense forces...(Read Full Post)