The United States and Japan have agreed to develop a defensive weapon to counter the threat from hypersonic missiles, both countries announced this week, signing an agreement to jointly create interceptors to take down the elusive, ultrafast missiles.
China has been ramping up its efforts for future lunar missions, with plans to dispatch an unmanned lunar probe to the moon's far side as early as next month, and astronauts by 2030.
Washington will be abuzz with summitry this week as President Biden welcomes two key Asian allies, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., to the White House for a string of bilateral and trilateral meetings that will likely feature China as the main topic of conversation.