By Sakura Murakami&nbsp;and&nbsp;Kentaro Sugiyama
TOKYO (Reuters) -&nbsp;Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday he welcomed that&nbsp;Japan&nbsp;and&nbsp;the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) had&nbsp;agreed on a&nbsp;new&nbsp;partnership&nbsp;programme, ahead of his attendance at the&nbsp;NATO&nbsp;Vilnius&nbsp;summit.
At a joint announcement with&nbsp;NATO&nbsp;chief Jens Stoltenberg, Kishida said he looked forward to furthering cooperation in&nbsp;new&nbsp;areas including cyber-security,&nbsp;and&nbsp;hoped to deepen cooperation with&nbsp;NATO&nbsp;as it increases its engagement with the Indo-Pacific.
The&nbsp;new&nbsp;partnership&nbsp;programme&nbsp;comes as&nbsp;NATO&nbsp;explores a deeper engagement with Asia while China increases its military presence.
Stoltenberg said at the announcement that&nbsp;NATO&nbsp;is concerned with China's heavy military buildup&nbsp;and&nbsp;its expansion of nuclear forces,&nbsp;and&nbsp;also condemned the launching of missiles by North Korea.
"No other partner is closer to&nbsp;NATO&nbsp;than&nbsp;Japan," he said, adding that Asia matters to Europe just as much as Europe matters to Asia.
China has lashed out at a communique issued by&nbsp;NATO&nbsp;during its two-day&nbsp;summit&nbsp;in Lithuania's capital&nbsp;Vilnius&nbsp;claiming that China challenged the military alliance's interests, security,&nbsp;and&nbsp;values.
China has said it opposes&nbsp;NATO's "eastward movement into the Asia-Pacific region"&nbsp;and&nbsp;warned any action threatening Beijing's rights would be met with a resolute response.
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(Reporting by Sakura Murakami&nbsp;and&nbsp;Kentaro Sugiyama; Editing by Michael Perry)

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Japan and NATO agree on new partnership programme at NATO Vilnius summit