EU to seek security accord with Japan amid China's assertiveness

The European Union decided Monday to negotiate with Japan on concluding a security and defense partnership agreement, with the bloc seeking to elevate bilateral ties to a higher level, an EU document showed amid China's maritime assertiveness.The two sides will explore increasing cooperation across wide areas including maritime security, intelligence sharing and coping with hybrid attacks, a new form of warfare that combines military and non-military tactics such as distributing fake information to achieve strategic objectives.The move comes after Japan and the EU vowed to "develop further …READ FULL ARTICLE