Commentary Rising Japanese defense spending, as I wrote last month, has already sent a message to Beijing. In just the last few weeks, Tokyo has made that message still more pointed, for Beijing, to be sure, but also for Washington. Clearly, the future will contain heightened Sino-Japanese hostility and if not a direct confrontation, very possibly an arms race. Sometimes, it seems, nothing changes. When Japan’s new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga traveled to Washington earlier this year to meet with America’s new President Joe Biden, it was the first for both men as a national leader. That fact alone was auspicious. Biden used it to signal America’s long-contemplated “pivot” to Asia, of which President Obama frequently spoke but never managed to execute. Accordingly, Biden readily reaffirmed America’s commitment to Japan. Suga, if anything, had a more serious purpose. No doubt in response to Chinese provocations, he wanted to clarify certain …