WASHINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) – President Joe Biden told Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday that the United States was “totally, thoroughly, totally” committed to Japan’s defense and praised Tokyo’s security buildup, saying it was not the nations had never been closer.
Kishida is in Washington on the last stop on a tour of the G7 industrial powers and has been trying to boost long-standing alliances amid growing concern in Japan, and the US, about growing regional security threats from China, North Korea and Russia .
In a meeting at the White House, Biden called it an “extraordinary moment” in the alliance between the United States and Japan. He said the two countries had never been closer.
“Let me be crystal clear: the United States is fully, thoroughly, completely committed to the alliance, and very importantly … to the defense of Japan,” he said, while also thanking Kishida for strong leadership while working closely on technology and economic issues.
“We are modernizing our military alliances, building on Japan’s historic increase in defense spending, and a new national security strategy,” Biden said.
Kishida thanked Biden for the US’s work on regional security and said: “Japan and the US are currently facing the most challenging and complex security environment in recent history.” He said Tokyo formulated its new defense strategy released last month “to ensure peace and prosperity in the region.”
He said the two countries share the basic values of democracy and the rule of law “and the role we have to play is becoming ever greater.”
Kishida said he looked forward to a “frank” exchange of views on issues including a “free and open Indo-Pacific” – language both sides use to describe efforts to push back against China – the G7 , which Japan currently chairs, and a climate of change.
In a later speech at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, Kishida called China a “central challenge” to Japan and the United States and said they and Europe must act in unison in dealing with the country.
Kishida also stressed the importance of resisting Russia’s attack on Ukraine, saying that if a unilateral change to the status quo went unchallenged, the same would happen elsewhere, including in Asia – an apparent reference to China’s resolve to reunification with self-governing Taiwan. , by force if necessary.
DRAMATIC MILITARY CHANGE
Last month Japan announced its largest military build-up since World War II – a dramatic departure from seven decades of pacifism, driven largely by concerns about Chinese actions in the region. On the same subject : Global Food Security Summit – US Department of State.
“Biden praised Japan’s bold leadership in fundamentally strengthening its defense capabilities and strengthening diplomatic efforts,” according to a joint US-Japan statement issued after the meeting.
[1/5] US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida walk through the colonnade on their way to the Oval Office in the White House in Washington, U.S., January 13, 2023. T.J. Kirkpatrick/Pool via REUTERS
The US and Japanese foreign and defense ministers met on Wednesday and announced increased security cooperation following nearly two years of talks and US officials praised Tokyo’s military build-up plans.
Japan’s military reform plan will see it double defense spending to 2% of GDP and acquire missiles that can hit ships or land targets 1,000 km (600 miles) away.
Ahead of the meeting, a senior US official said Biden and Kishida were expected to discuss issues of security and the global economy and that their talks were likely to include controlling semiconductor-related exports to China after Washington announced strict curbs last year.
SEMICONDUCTORS
The joint statement said the United States and Japan will “sharpen our shared advantage on economic security, including the protection and promotion of critical and new technologies, including semiconductors. See the article : Tuesday’s sport (12/27).”
Kishida, Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken later signed an agreement on peaceful space exploration at NASA headquarters in Washington.
Blinken said this would take space cooperation “to new heights” and strengthen the partnership in areas including space and transportation technology research, robotic lunar surface missions, climate-related missions, and “our ambition on the together to see a Japanese astronaut on the surface of the moon. .”
At the ceremony, Kishida said the alliance between the United States and Japan is “stronger than ever.”
In addition to chairing the G7, Japan took up a two-year term on the UN Security Council on January 1 and holds the monthly rotating presidency of the 15-member body for the month of January.
Kishida has said he supports Biden’s attempt to limit China’s access to advanced semiconductors with export restrictions. Still, it has not agreed to match sweeping curbs on exports of chip manufacturing equipment that Washington imposed in October.
The US official said that Washington is working closely with Japan on the issue and that he believes they share a similar vision even if their legal structures are different. He said the more countries and significant players supported the controls, the more effective they would be.
A Japanese official said that economic security, including semiconductors, was likely to be discussed, but that no announcement on that was expected from the meeting.
Biden and Kishida pledged to “strengthen vital trilateral cooperation” between the United States, Japan and South Korea, the joint statement, which follows North Korea’s decision to exponentially increase its nuclear force and codify its right of first strike.
Kishida’s visit follows one by Biden to Tokyo in May and a meeting between the two at a regional summit in November in Cambodia.
Reporting by Jeff Mason, Andrea Shalal, David Brunnstrom, Michael Martina, Tim Ahmann and Eric Beech; Editing by Don Durfee, Alistair Bell and Grant McCool
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