FirstFT: US and Japan plan upgrade to security alliance

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The US and Japan are planning the biggest upgrade to their security alliance since they signed a mutual defence treaty in 1960 in a move to counter China.

President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will announce plans to restructure the US military command in Japan to strengthen operational planning and exercises between the nations, according to five people familiar with the situation. They will unveil the plan when Biden hosts Kishida at the White House on April 10.

The allies want to bolster their security ties to respond to what they view as a growing threat from China, which requires their militaries to co-operate more seamlessly, particularly in a crisis such as a Taiwan conflict. Read more on the plans to upgrade the US-Japan security alliance.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• UN Security Council: The 15-member council convenes in New York to discuss the conflict in Gaza after China and Russia vetoed a US resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

• EIB: The European Investment Bank’s advisory council on climate and the environment meets in Luxembourg, with attendees including European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde.

• Holidays: Financial markets are closed in Greece for Independence Day and in Israel for the Jewish festival of Shushan Purim.

• Results: Kingfisher and Technogym report.

Five more top stories

1. A Moscow court has ordered the detention of four suspects in the largest attack on Russian soil in more than a decade as the country held a day of mourning over the assault, which killed at least 137 people and injured 180. The identities of the suspects, who are accused of shooting concertgoers and setting a Moscow music venue on fire, were confirmed for the first time as they appeared before the court yesterday. Here’s the latest on Friday’s attack, for which Jihadist group Isis has claimed responsibility.

2. Exclusive: The head of Poland’s central bank will write to Prime Minister Donald Tusk in a bid to end a feud that he warns is hurting the country’s international image. Adam Glapiński, who was appointed by the rightwing Law and Justice party, said he was ready to defend his actions before a state tribunal if his offer of a truce was rejected. Tusk’s attack on Glapiński is part of his broader drive to oust Law and Justice loyalists from the state apparatus. Read more from Glapiński’s interview with the Financial Times.

3. Exclusive: Two Baltic presidents have urged other European countries to do more to prepare for a possible armed confrontation with Russia. Edgars Rinkēvičs, Latvia’s head of state, said Nato members needed to return to “cold war-era spending” levels and should discuss the return of compulsory military service, while Estonia’s Alar Karis said Europe should aim to match US defence spending at a minimum, implying a more than doubling of current levels. Read more from the FT’s interviews with Rinkēvičs and Karis.

4. Boeing’s largest labour union is seeking a board seat at the plane maker as quality control concerns mount following a mid-air blowout aboard a 737 Max jet in January. “We believe that we have a unique ability to understand the production system,” said Jon Holden, president of the International Association of Machinists District 751, which represents 32,000 workers at factories in the US state of Washington. “We have to save this company from itself.” Claire Bushey has more on the negotiations.

5. Exclusive: UK shadow health secretary Wes Streeting has said he wants the NHS to lean on the private health sector in the short term in order to drastically reduce the system’s dependence on it in the future. The 41-year-old, seen by some as a future Labour leader, sought to distinguish his vision for the role of the private sector from the one developed under Tony Blair, in a sign that Sir Keir Starmer’s team is seeking to put distance between the New Labour juggernaut that swept to power 27 years ago.

The Big Read

Once an investment backwater, infrastructure has become a favoured area for pension funds seeking yields and protection against market volatility. Infrastructure assets under management worldwide have soared beyond $1tn, more than six times their level in 2008, according to data provider Preqin, with early movers profiting from unloved assets. But as asset prices and interest rates rise, windfalls have become harder to achieve.

We’re also reading and listening to . . . 

Chart of the day

Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg are leading a parade of corporate insiders who have sold hundreds of millions of dollars of their companies’ shares this quarter, a sign that a recent tech bull run, fuelled by excitement over the rise of generative AI, is about to wane.

Take a break from the news

Central heating, which made homes usable for longer, was the cornerstone of a wider transformation in British quality of life. More than a change in temperature, it was a wholesale redesign of the cultural and social life of the interior. Now, the twin crises of cost of living and climate change demand a similarly imaginative vision of a new kind of home, one that is more pleasurable to live in.

Additional contributions from Benjamin Wilhelm