Sunday’s Sankei front-paged a story saying that arrangements are being made for the German frigate Bayern to conduct a joint drill with MSDF vessels later this month before heading home from a months-long cruise in East Asia. Noting that the German warship conducted similar training with MSDF ships last month, the paper said the Japanese side is hoping to continue and deepen bilateral defense cooperation with Germany, which just elected a new chancellor, with the goal of pushing back against China, which is increasing military pressure.