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Biden and Kishida Agree to Tighten Military and Economic Ties to Counter China

President Biden is hosting Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, for a state visit as part of a broad diplomatic outreach.

President Biden stands with Jill Biden to his left and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife, Yuko Kishida, to his right. They are standing on the balcony of the White House, with military band members flanking them.

By Peter Baker and Michael D. Shear

Reporting from the White House Rose Garden

President Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan announced a range of moves on Wednesday to further enhance military, economic and other cooperation between the two longtime allies as part of the president’s efforts to counter China’s aggressive actions in the Indo-Pacific region.

During a pomp-filled ceremony honoring the visiting Japanese prime minister, the president said the United States and Japan would create an expanded defense architecture with Australia, participate in three-way military exercises with Britain and explore ways for Japan to join a U.S.-led coalition with Australia and Britain.

Mr. Biden also announced that the United States would take a Japanese astronaut to the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program, which would be the first time a non-American has set foot on the moon.

“This is the most significant upgrade of our alliance since it was first established,” Mr. Biden said at a news conference in the White House Rose Garden along with the prime minister.

Mr. Kishida made a point of reaffirming Japan’s “strong support for Ukraine” in its war against Russia, a key priority for Mr. Biden, and framed the European conflict in terms of the precedent it could set in Japan’s neighborhood. “Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow,” Mr. Kishida said.

Biden Hosts Japan’s Prime Minister at the White House

President biden called the united states and japan “the closest of friends” during a welcoming ceremony for prime minister fumio kishida..

Just a few generations ago, our two nations were locked in a devastating conflict. It would have been easy to say we remain adversaries. Instead, we made a far better choice: We became the closest of friends. Mr. Prime Minister, Mr. Kishida, welcome back to the White House.

Mr. Biden’s statements on Wednesday fit into a long history of American presidents declaring that the U.S.-Japan relationship was the most important bilateral alliance in the world.

In preparation for the state visit, Mr. Biden’s aides described the closer military link as one of the biggest upgrades of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, which dates back to early 1960, an Eisenhower-era innovation to turn a former World War II enemy into what later presidents called America’s “biggest aircraft carrier in the Pacific.”

There has always been a bit of hyperbole to the statement. But as the perceived threat from China has grown, Japan has been the linchpin of broader U.S. efforts to unify its separate allies in the region — especially South Korea and the Philippines — into a coordinated force.

The prime minister’s visit comes at the same time Mr. Biden is strengthening the American partnership with the Philippines, which also finds itself the target of a mounting Chinese military presence in the South China Sea. On Thursday, Mr. Biden and Mr. Kishida will meet with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines to demonstrate their joint commitment.

The day began with a welcoming ceremony on the South Lawn, where Mr. Biden hailed the relationship between the United States and Japan as a “cornerstone of peace, security, prosperity” and said that President Eisenhower’s promise of an “indestructible partnership” had been achieved.

“Just a few generations ago, our two nations were locked in a devastating conflict,” Mr. Biden said after he and Mr. Kishida watched a procession of U.S. military honor guards upon the prime minister’s arrival at the White House. “It would have been easy to say we remain adversaries. Instead, we made a far better choice: We became the closest of friends.”

The Biden administration signaled the importance of its relationship with Tokyo by holding an official state dinner on Wednesday evening in honor of Mr. Kishida, something reserved for America’s closest allies.

The visit comes amid hand-wringing in Washington and Tokyo over the possibility of a return to power by former President Donald J. Trump, whose unpredictable foreign policy kept many world leaders on edge. One goal for Mr. Biden, officials said, is to create as much permanence in the Japanese relationship as possible before the election in November.

One administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the upcoming meeting, said there was “anxiety in capitals” around the world, including in Tokyo, about whether Mr. Trump would continue the international engagement that Mr. Biden and prior presidents have embraced. Another official said there was a real risk that Mr. Trump, if re-elected, could move to undo what the leaders of the two countries announced on Wednesday.

Mr. Biden and Mr. Kishida outlined greater coordination and integration between the military forces of both countries, including the formation of a joint defense council that could support more defense-related exports of equipment produced in Japan. And officials agreed on new cooperation on ventures in space and collaboration between research institutions working on artificial intelligence, semiconductors and clean energy.

“The American alliance system has helped bring peace and stability to the Indo-Pacific for decades, and now we need to update and upgrade that alliance network for the modern age,” said Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser. “It goes way beyond security. It’s economics. It’s technology. It’s infrastructure development. And it’s diplomacy. And that’s all going to be on display in the meeting with the prime minister.”

Rahm Emanuel, the United States ambassador to Japan, called the meeting a chance for the two nations to go beyond America’s work to protect Japan and to “write the first chapter of the next era” of cooperation as they work together to project power throughout the region.

That would be a more far-reaching relationship than the United States has historically had with Japan, which for decades after World War II restricted its spending on defense and its engagement around the world.

That began to change during the past several years, under Mr. Kishida, who pushed to expand defense spending and participate in global efforts like the sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. Administration officials said Japan’s new willingness to become a full partner with the United States on the global stage has taken the alliance between the two countries to a new level.

But there are still some tensions. The two leaders had to dance carefully around Mr. Biden’s reluctance to let a Japanese firm buy a storied U.S. steel maker. That struck national security experts as strange, since such deals are usually blocked only when they give critical technology to adversaries, not allies.

“The idea that you block the acquisition of a company by one of your closest allies makes no sense in alliance-building terms,” said Joseph S. Nye Jr., an emeritus professor at Harvard who designed many of the defense cooperation strategies with Japan in the Clinton administration.

The meeting on Thursday between Mr. Biden, Mr. Kishida and Mr. Marcos represents a more aggressive effort by the United States and its allies to isolate China — rather than allowing the Chinese leadership to intimidate and isolate its neighbors in the South China Sea and elsewhere.

The Thursday meeting will be the first time that the leaders of the three nations have met together, officials said.

“We’re continuing to deepen our cooperation with our closest partners to ensure what we’ve talked about many times from this podium and elsewhere: a free, open and prosperous Indo Pacific,” Mr. Sullivan told reporters during a briefing at the White House on Tuesday.

Mr. Sullivan declined to say whether Mr. Biden would raise with Mr. Kishida the issue of plans by Nippon Steel, a Japanese corporation, to acquire U.S. Steel , the struggling manufacturer based in Pittsburgh. Mr. Biden has publicly said that he will have “the backs” of union steel workers, indicating his opposition to the deal.

“You guys all know Joe Biden,” he said. “You’ve seen Joe Biden. He’s been very clear that he’s going to stand up for American workers. He’s going to defend your interests. He’s also been very clear that he is going to make sure that the U.S.-Japan alliance is the strongest it’s ever been.”

But administration officials said later on Tuesday that they did not think the subject would come up between the two leaders on Wednesday because both men already know the position of the other.

Mr. Biden greeted Mr. Kishida on Tuesday evening for a brief arrival at the White House. Later, the two leaders and their wives went to BlackSalt, an upscale seafood restaurant in Washington, for a more casual dinner ahead of the formal events on Wednesday.

White House officials said the couples had exchanged a series of gifts on Tuesday evening, a diplomatic tradition for such events. The official gift from Mr. Biden and Jill Biden, the first lady, was a three-legged table that was handmade by a Japanese American-owned company in Pennsylvania.

Other gifts included a lithograph and a two-volume LP set autographed by Billy Joel and a vintage vinyl record collection. Dr. Biden gave Ms. Kishida a framed painting of the Yoshino cherry tree that the two had planted on the South Lawn last spring, and a soccer ball signed by the U.S. women’s national soccer team and the Japanese women’s team.

At the state dinner, the White House was scheduled to serve a meal that would include house-cured salmon and dry-aged rib-eye steak with blistered shishito pepper butter.

David E. Sanger contributed reporting.

An earlier version of this article misstated which countries belong to a security pact that Japan may join. Its members are the United States, Australia and Britain, not the United States, Australia and New Zealand.

Because of an editing error, an earlier version of a home page headline with this article misstated the surname of Japan’s prime minister. He is Fumio Kishida, not Fushida.

How we handle corrections

Peter Baker is the chief White House correspondent for The Times. He has covered the last five presidents and sometimes writes analytical pieces that place presidents and their administrations in a larger context and historical framework. More about Peter Baker

Michael D. Shear is a White House correspondent for The New York Times, covering President Biden and his administration. He has reported on politics for more than 30 years. More about Michael D. Shear

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What’s expected at Japanese PM Kishida’s US visit? A major upgrade in defense ties

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is making an official visit to the United States this week. He will hold a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden that’s meant to achieve a major upgrading of their defense alliance.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has begun his official visit to the United States this week. The prime minister and his spouse, Kishida Yuko, were greeted with an arrival ceremony at Joint Base Andrews. Maryland.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is beginning a much-anticipated visit to Washington on Tuesday. Kishida will take part in a meeting with Biden and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Philippines-Chinese relations have been repeatedly tested by skirmishes between Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels in the disputed South China Sea.

FILE - This photo combination shows U.S. President Joe Biden, left, taken in Washington on April 3, 2024, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, taken in Tokyo on March 28, 2024. Prime Minister Kishida is making an official visit to the United States this week. He will hold a summit with President Biden that’s meant to achieve a major upgrading of their defense alliance.(AP Photo/File)

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Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, left, and his wife Yuko Kishida participate in an arrival ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Monday, April 8, 2024. Kishida is set for his much-anticipated visit to Washington, which will include a glamorous state dinner on Wednesday. The visit comes amid growing concerns about provocative Chinese military action as well as a rare moment of public difference between Washington and Tokyo over a Japanese company’s plan to buy the iconic U.S. Steel. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, center, and his wife Yuko Kishida, right, participate in an arrival ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Monday, April 8, 2024. President Joe Biden will host a State Dinner for Kishida during his official visit to the United States on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, left, and his wife Yuko Kishida walk down the stairs from a plane as they participate in an arrival ceremony at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., Monday, April 8, 2024. President Joe Biden will host a State Dinner for Kishida during his official visit to the United States on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

FILE - U.S. President Joe Biden, left, shakes hands with Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during a joint news conference with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, not visible, on Aug. 18, 2023, at Camp David, the presidential retreat, near Thurmont, Md. Prime Minister Kishida is making an official visit to the United States this week. He will hold a summit with President Biden that’s meant to achieve a major upgrading of their defense alliance.(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

FILE - An MV-22 Osprey takes off as Japan Ground Self-Defense Force guards the landing zone during a joint military drill with U.S. Marines in Gotemba, southwest of Tokyo, on March 15, 2022. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is making an official visit to the United States this week. He will hold a summit with President Joe Biden that’s meant to achieve a major upgrading of their defense alliance.(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

FILE - Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during an interview with foreign media members ahead of an official visit to the United States at the Prime Minister’s official residence Friday, April 5, 2024, in Tokyo. Kishida is making an official visit to the United States this week. He will hold a summit with President Joe Biden that’s meant to achieve a major upgrading of their defense alliance.(AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)

FILE - Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, right, greets Philippines’ President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. prior to their bilateral meeting at the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo, Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023, on the sidelines of the Commemorative Summit for the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation. The first-ever trilateral summit between President Joe Biden, Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. comes as the Philippines faces escalating maritime tension with China over their contested South China Sea claims.(Franck Robichon/Pool Photo via AP, File)

FILE - Crew members of Philippine coast guard BRP Sindangan prepare rubber fenders as a Chinese coast guard ship tries to block it’s path while they tried to enter the Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin Shoal, in the disputed South China Sea Tuesday, March 5, 2024. The first-ever trilateral summit between President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. comes as the Philippines faces escalating maritime tension with China over their contested South China Sea claims. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila, File)

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is making an official visit to the United States this week. He will hold a summit with President Joe Biden that’s meant to achieve a major upgrading of their defense alliance.

He will also join a first-ever summit of the U.S., Japanese and Philippine leaders in Washington to showcase their cooperation in the face of an increasingly assertive China .

The Associated Press explains the significance of Kishida’s visit and the two summits.

WHAT DOES KISHIDA WANT TO ACHIEVE?

The biggest event during the weeklong trip is his summit with Biden on Wednesday. Kishida hopes to further strengthen the alliance as China’s influence grows in the Indo-Pacific.

Kishida is also reaching out to the American public to showcase Japan’s contribution to the U.S. economy and ensure stable relations regardless of who wins the U.S. presidential election later this year.

Kishida, who has pushed sweeping changes fortifying Japan’s defense capabilities since taking office in 2021, will emphasize that Japan and the U.S. are now global partners working to maintain a rules-based international order, and that Japan is willing to take on a greater international role in security, economy and space to help Washington.

Expanding arms equipment and technology cooperation between the two countries and other like-minded partners is also highly important, Kishida on Friday told selected media , including AP.

Kishida, stung by a corruption scandal, needs a successful U.S. visit to shore up low support ratings at home.

WHAT IS A STATE VISIT?

As a state guest, Kishida will be welcomed in a White House arrival ceremony on the South Lawn, a formal state dinner and other official events. He is the fifth state guest of Biden, who has also hosted leaders of India, Australia, South Korea and France, underscoring America’s focus on Indo-Pacific security partnerships.

Kishida is the first Japanese leader to make a state visit since Shinzo Abe in 2015. Abe made a major revision to the interpretation of Japan’s pacifist Constitution, allowing its self-defense-only principle to also cover its ally, the United States.

WHY THE DEFENSE FOCUS?

Defense tops the agenda because of growing worries about threats from China, North Korea and Russia. Chinese coast guard ships regularly approach disputed Japanese-controlled East China Sea islands near Taiwan . Beijing says Taiwan is part of its territory and will be brought under control by force if necessary.

There are also worries about North Korean nuclear and missile threats and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Kishida has warned that the war in Europe could lead to conflict in East Asia, suggesting that a lax attitude to Russia emboldens China.

“While we maintain the Japan-U.S. alliance as a cornerstone, we believe it is important to cooperate with like-minded countries, including the Philippines,” Kishida said.

WHAT ARE THE SUMMIT’S MAIN ISSUES?

Biden and Kishida are expected to agree on a plan to modernize their military command structures so they can better operate together. America stations 50,000 troops in Japan. The Japanese Self Defense Force is preparing to restructure so it has a unified command for ground, air and naval forces by March 2025.

Also expected are new initiatives for defense industry cooperation, including co-production of weapons, possibly a new missile, and the repair and maintenance of American warships and other equipment in Japan to help U.S. operations in the western Pacific.

Japan’s possible participation in a U.S.-U.K.-Australia security partnership to develop and share advanced military capabilities, including artificial intelligence, electronic warfare and hypersonics, may also come up.

Kishida and Biden are also expected to confirm Japan’s participation in NASA’s Artemis moon program and its contribution of a moon rover developed by Toyota Motor Corp. and the inclusion of a Japanese astronaut. The rover, which comes at a roughly $2 billion cost, is the most expensive contribution to the mission by a non-U.S. partner to date, a U.S. official said.

WHAT’S JAPAN’S DEFENSE AIM?

Since adopting a more expansive national security strategy in 2022 , Kishida’s government has taken bold steps to accelerate Japan’s military buildup. He hopes to show Tokyo is capable of elevating its security cooperation with the U.S. Kishida has pledged to double defense spending and boost deterrence against China, which Japan considers a top security threat.

Japan, working to acquire what it calls a “counterstrike” capability, has purchased 400 U.S. Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles. After prohibiting almost all weapons transfers, it has relaxed export guidelines twice in recent months, allowing the sale of lethal weapons to countries from which they were licensed and the overseas sales of a fighter jet it’s co-developing with the U.K. and Italy. The changes have allowed Japan to ship Japanese-made PAC-3 missiles to the U.S. to help replace those contributed by Washington to Ukraine.

WHAT ABOUT THE SUMMIT WITH THE PHILIPPINES?

The first-ever trilateral summit between Biden, Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. comes as the Philippines faces escalating maritime tension with China over their contested South China Sea claims.

Biden wants to show that the three maritime democracies are unified as they face aggressive Chinese action against the Philippine coast guard and its supply vessels off the disputed Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea, according to a senior Biden administration official.

Japan has sold coastal radars to the Philippines and is now negotiating a defense agreement that would allow their troops to visit each other’s turf for joint military exercises.

The trilateral comes eight months after Biden hosted a meeting with leaders from Japan and South Korea at Camp David .

“Cooperation among our three countries are extremely important in maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and in defending a free and open international order based on the rules of law,” Kishida said Monday before leaving for Washington.

WHAT HAPPENS IN NORTH CAROLINA?

Kishida also wants to highlight Japan’s economic contributions in the U.S. There is growing uncertainty in Tokyo about U.S. elections, reflected by questions about what happens if former President Donald Trump wins, though experts say there is a bipartisan consensus on a stronger U.S.-Japan alliance.

Kishida will meet with business leaders and visit Toyota’s electric vehicle battery factory under construction for a planned launch in 2025, and Honda’s business jet subsidiary in North Carolina. He will also meet students at North Carolina State University on Friday.

In his congressional speech on Thursday, Kishida said he plans to convey “what Japan and the United States want to hand down to future generations and what we need to do for them.”

FILE PHOTO: Japanese and U.S. flags at the White House in Washington ahead of State Visit

Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press Mari Yamaguchi, Associated Press

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What to expect from Japanese Prime Minister Kishida’s U.S. visit

WATCH: Japanese prime minister on strengthening military cooperation with U.S. to counter China

He will also join a first-ever summit of the U.S., Japanese and Philippine leaders in Washington to showcase their cooperation in the face of an increasingly assertive China.

The Associated Press explains the significance of Kishida’s visit and the two summits.

What does Kishida want to achieve?

The biggest event during the weeklong trip is his summit with Biden on Wednesday. Kishida hopes to further strengthen the alliance as China’s influence grows in the Indo-Pacific.

READ MORE: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen arrives in China to talk trade, green technology tensions

Expanding arms equipment and technology cooperation between the two countries and other like-minded partners is also highly important, Kishida on Friday told selected media, including AP.

Kishida, stung by a corruption scandal, needs a successful U.S. visit to shore up low support ratings at home.

What is a state visit?

Why the defense focus?

Defense tops the agenda because of growing worries about threats from China, North Korea and Russia. Chinese coast guard ships regularly approach disputed Japanese-controlled East China Sea islands near Taiwan. Beijing says Taiwan is part of its territory and will be brought under control by force if necessary.

READ MORE: Japan successfully sends new H3 rocket into orbit in key test after last year’s failed debut

“While we maintain the Japan-U.S. alliance as a cornerstone, we believe it is important to cooperate with like-minded countries, including the Philippines,” Kishida said.

What are the summit’s main issue?

What’s Japan’s defense aim?

Since adopting a more expansive national security strategy in 2022, Kishida’s government has taken bold steps to accelerate Japan’s military buildup. He hopes to show Tokyo is capable of elevating its security cooperation with the U.S. Kishida has pledged to double defense spending and boost deterrence against China, which Japan considers a top security threat.

What about the summit with the Philippines?

Japan has sold coastal radars to the Philippines and is now negotiating a defense agreement that would allow their troops to visit each other’s turf for joint military exercises.

The trilateral comes eight months after Biden hosted a meeting with leaders from Japan and South Korea at Camp David.

What happens in North Carolina?

In his congressional speech on Thursday, Kishida said he plans to convey “what Japan and the United States want to hand down to future generations and what we need to do for them.”

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Fumio Kishida Travels to the United States as Prime Minister of a More Assertive Japan

E mbattled Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida travels to the White House on Friday for a summit with U.S. President Joe Biden that promises to deepen the two nations’ security alliance amid rising tensions with China and North Korea.

It will be Kishida’s first meeting with Biden since December’s announcement of Japan’s biggest military build-up since World War II, and it follows whistlestop visits by Kishida to Britain, France, Italy, and Canada—industrial powers that Japan will host at a G7 summit in Hiroshima in May.

On Friday, Kishida and Biden are expected to discuss Japan’s plans to acquire missiles able to strike targets across East Asia, efforts to limit China’s access to advanced technology like semiconductors, and strategies to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

According to the U.S. Department of Defense, the two leaders will also agree to new cooperation on thwarting potential threats from space, reconfiguring U.S. troop deployments on Japan’s island of Okinawa, and developing uninhabited islands for joint military drills.

“The big message here is the strength of the U.S.-Japan alliance,” says Jeffery Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University in Japan. Kishida, he says, “has basically pushed through a major transformation in Japan’s security policy.”

The trip is also seen as key to restoring domestic credibility for Kishida, who took office in 2021, following a slew of scandals—over resignations by senior colleagues and his Liberal Democratic Party’s ties to the cult-like Unification Church —which have seen his cabinet’s approval rating plummet from 53% in June to 25% in December .

Japan’s new military posture

In December, Japan revised three key defense policy documents, including the National Security Strategy, drastically boosting its military spending while acquiring capabilities to preemptively strike enemy bases in a major departure from its pacifist constitution.

Japan’s draft budget for next year includes $1.58 billion for U.S.-made long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles amid a stated aim to increase defense spending to 2% of GDP by 2027 —a figure in line with NATO targets. Although Japan is not a NATO member, Kishida attended a summit of the military alliance in June as an observer and considers the country a stakeholder in the Ukraine conflict given its disputed maritime border with Russia.

The shifting military posture also comes as Beijing ramps up military exercises near neighboring Taiwan and as North Korea launched a record number of missile tests last year (many of which passed over Japan). Last month, Kishida agreed to develop a new fighter jet with the U.K. and Italy , and he signed a deal with the former that will allow visits by each other’s armed forces.

These moves all align with the Biden administration’s call for Japan to play a bolder role in regional security.

“The United States needs the Indo-Pacific region to be prosperous and secure in order for the United States itself to be prosperous and secure,” a senior State Department official tells TIME.

Focus on Taiwan

Beijing’s military assertiveness around self-ruling Taiwan—which China claims as its sovereign territory—has unsettled Japan and the U.S., not least since China and Moscow held joint military drills in the East China Sea just last month.

In a joint statement, Washington and Tokyo said China presents an “unprecedented” threat to the international order. “China’s foreign policy seeks to reshape the international order to its benefit and to employ China’s growing political, economic, military, and technological power to that end,” it said.

Beijing launched unprecedented military drills encircling Taiwan—some less than 10 miles from its coast—in August following a visit by then U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In an ominous sign, new Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy has said he plans to follow suit , which would no doubt prompt a similar furious reaction from Beijing.

Biden will also hope to persuade Kishida to limit cooperation with China on new technology-driven industries such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and, particularly, semiconductor chips . Although Kishida has said he backs Biden’s export restrictions on semiconductors to China imposed in October, he has not yet agreed to match the curbs given the potential for economic retribution from China, Japan’s largest trade partner.

Setting the scene for the G7

It’s no coincidence that Kishida’s weeklong tour focuses on nations belonging to the G7, for which he will host a summit in his home city of Hiroshima in May. Since Japan’s defeat in World War II, its constitution has enshrined the principle that it will not wage war. Yet Kishida will hope to use the optics of the formerly nuclear-ravaged city—where an estimated 70,000-140,000 people died after the atomic bombing of Aug. 6, 1945—to press home the magnitude of new threats on its borders.

Not only has Russian President Vladimir Putin openly threatened nuclear war against the U.S. and its allies, but experts believe North Korea is rapidly preparing for a seventh nuclear test. “Politically, the symbolism is very important,” says Kingston.

The G7 will also be important to secure Kishida’s political future. An impending $7 billion tax hike to pay for the military expansion means there’s been no shortage of criticism. Kishida, says Airo Hino, a professor of political science at Tokyo’s Waseda University, “ would like to balance that out by making diplomatic progress with other leaders at the G7 summit.” Hino says that an expected popularity boost following the summit may even prompt Kishida to call a snap election to assert his mandate.

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PM Hasina to visit Japan on 25-28 April

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Sketch: TBS

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will be on an official visit to Japan on 25-28 April at the invitation of Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio .

A number of memorandums of cooperation are expected to be signed during the PM's official visit.

Both the governments of Bangladesh and Japan hope that the visit will further strengthen the friendly relations between the two countries.

Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

Japan wants to elevate the bilateral ties with Bangladesh to a "strategic" level, adding more elements like defence and security areas to the growing relations.

The two countries now have a comprehensive partnership and Japan intends to elevate it.

This will be the sixth visit of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to Japan; she visited Japan in 1997, 2010, 2014, 2016 and 2019.

Also Read: Bangladesh seeks Japanese investment in joint economic dialogue

During her stay in Japan, the prime minister will be received by the Emperor of Japan.

Prime Minister Fumio will hold a summit meeting with the Bangladesh premier and then host a working dinner in her honour.

During the visit, Sheikh Hasina is scheduled to attend an investment summit and a community reception along with a few bilateral meetings.

She will also hand over the Friends of Liberation War Honour to a few Japanese nationals, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The prime minister is likely to visit the US and the UK after wrapping up her Japan visit but there has been no official announcement yet in this regard.

The prime minister has been invited to attend the coronation of UK's King Charles III, to be hosted by Buckingham Palace on 6 May.

She is likely to travel to Washington DC to attend a programme on 1 May to celebrate 50 years of partnership between Bangladesh and the World Bank.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina / Japan

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

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40 Hours, 23 Engagements: PM Modi's Visit To Japan For Quad Meet

Prime minister narendra modi will join us president joe biden and prime ministers of australia and japan at the quad summit in tokyo on may 24..

PM Modi will spend one night in Tokyo and two nights in the plane travelling. (File)

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have 23 engagements, including meetings with three world leaders, in around 40 hours of stay in Japan where he will join US President Joe Biden and prime ministers of Australia and Japan at the Quad summit in Tokyo on May 24, official sources said.

They said PM Modi during his visit will have business, diplomatic and community interactions. He will interact with at least 36 Japanese CEOs and also with hundreds of Indian diaspora members.

The prime minister will spend one night in Tokyo and two nights in the plane travelling, the sources said.

PM Modi will have bilateral talks with Biden and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida during the summit which is taking place amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He will also hold a bilateral meeting with his Australian counterpart.

While announcing the prime minister's participation in the summit, the External Affairs Ministry had said, "At the invitation of Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will participate in the third Quad Leaders' Summit in Tokyo on 24 May 2022 along with President Joseph R Biden Jr. of the US and the Prime Minister of Australia."

The forthcoming Quad summit provides an opportunity for the leaders to exchange views about developments in the Indo-Pacific region and contemporary global issues of mutual interest, the MEA had said.

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"The leaders will review the progress of Quad initiatives and working groups, identify new areas of cooperation and provide strategic guidance and vision for future collaboration," it added.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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PM Kishida’s Official Visit Brings About Stronger Japan-U.S. Global Partnership

Linking Japan and the World

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June 14, 2024

During his official visit to the United States in April 2024, Prime Minister Kishida expressed his intention to advance cooperation between Japan and the U.S. as global partners both at the Japan-U.S. Summit meeting and in his address to a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. At the Japan-U.S.-Philippines Summit, he also affirmed the further strengthening of trilateral cooperation for peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.

Japanese Prime Minister Kishida and U.S. President Biden holding a joint press conference with Japanese and American flags in the background.

At a joint press conference following the Japan-U.S. Summit meeting, the two leaders indicated their intention to strengthen the bilateral partnership in various fields such as economic security and space.

President Biden and the First Lady welcomed the prime minister and Mrs. KISHIDA Yuko.

U.S. President Joe Biden and the First Lady Jill Biden welcomed the prime minister and Mrs. KISHIDA Yuko.

　Prime Minister Kishida made an official visit to the United States from April 8 to 14, the first such trip there by a Japanese prime minister in nine years. In addition to attending both the Japan-U.S. Summit meeting and the Japan-U.S.-Philippines Summit, the prime minister addressed a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress and had a luncheon meeting with U.S. business leaders. During these and other events in his busy schedule, the prime minister delivered an emphatic global message asserting the kind of world Japan and the United States, as global partners bound by a deep relationship of trust, should leave for the future and for the next generations to come. 　On April 10, Prime Minister Kishida attended an arrival ceremony, followed by a Japan-U.S. Summit meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden. The two leaders shared the recognition that division of the international society is deepening and facing an unprecedented level of challenges and the view to jointly uphold and bolster the free and open international order based on the rule of law. Prime Minister Kishida stated that with a strong determination he has been making efforts to reinforce Japan’s defense capabilities, including its plans to increase the budget for its defense capabilities and complementary initiatives to 2% of the GDP in Japanese fiscal 2027 in accordance with Japan’s National Security Strategy, as well as its decision to possess counterstrike capabilities. In response, President Biden reiterated his strong support for the prime minister’s initiatives. The two leaders shared the view to expand and deepen security and defense cooperation, including their upgrade of respective command and control frameworks in order to enhance interoperability between the U.S. forces and the Japan Self-Defense Forces. 　While exchanging views on regional issues, the two leaders reaffirmed that unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion are totally unacceptable and that they will resolutely respond to them, in coordination with allies and like-minded countries. Regarding support for Ukraine, the two leaders shared the view that their countries will continue to closely cooperate with like-minded countries, including the G7 members.

A manned pressurized rover provided by JAXA for crewed Artemis missions to the Moon by NASA.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) will provide a manned pressurized rover for the crewed Artemis missions to the Moon by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Preparations are underway for the opportunity for Japanese astronauts to land on the Moon. TOYOTA

Prime Minister Kishida, U.S. President Biden, Philippine President Marcos standing in front of the flags.

Prime Minister Kishida held a Summit meeting with U.S. President Biden and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, where they agreed to strengthen cooperation in the areas of security and the economy.

　That same day, Japan, the United States, and the Philippines convened their first trilateral Summit meeting. Cooperation among the three maritime nations in the Pacific Ocean is indispensable to bringing about peace, security, and economic prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region. The three leaders discussed a concrete way forward on trilateral cooperation in various fields, mainly in security and the economy, to further strengthen trilateral cooperation. Prime Minister Kishida, President Biden, and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos confirmed that the Japan-U.S. Alliance and the U.S.-Philippines Alliance have protected peace and security in the Indo-Pacific and that the three countries would oppose and resolutely respond to any attempts by the People’s Republic of China to unilaterally change the status quo by force in the South China Sea and the East China Sea. The three leaders included in their Joint Vision Statement a commitment to conduct an at-sea trilateral exercise and other maritime activities in the Indo-Pacific within the next year. 　Regarding economic security, the Luzon Economic Corridor will be launched under the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), a G7-led framework that supports the building of infrastructure in developing countries, and the three countries will strengthen cooperation towards enhancing the resilience of supply chains for critical materials such as semiconductors and critical minerals. The three leaders also confirmed that they will seek to expand their partnership on safe and secure civil-nuclear capacity building for the sake of promoting clean energy. (Full text: Joint Vision Statement from the Leaders of Japan, the Philippines, and the United States ) 　After his visit to Washington, D.C., Prime Minister Kishida headed to North Carolina to visit a plant that Toyota Motor Corporation is building to produce automotive batteries. The plant, which is slated to become fully operational next year, will be a center for enhancing the company’s battery production capacity for electric and hybrid vehicles. Toyota has thus far invested 13.9 billion dollars in the plant, which the company expects to create more than 5,000 jobs. The prime minister also visited a plant operated by Honda Aircraft Company, a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co., Ltd., where he was briefed on plans for a business jet that the company will develop and manufacture. In the previous Japan-U.S. Summit meeting, the two countries had shared a recognition that facilitating private sector-led two-way investment is crucial to together lead global economic growth. 　Japan and the United States have strengthened their alliance as global partners for peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region. The latest official visit by Prime Minister Kishida has once again highlighted the strength of the two countries’ alliance. As President Biden said during the joint press conference, “And now, the U.S.-Japan alliance is a beacon to the entire world.” Japan is with the United States as the two countries continue their relentless efforts to ensure that their global partnership drives future peace and prosperity for generations to come.

Address to a Joint Meeting of the U.S. Congress KISHIDA Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan For the Future: Our Global Partnership

Prime Minister Kishida gave a speech at a joint meting of the U.S. congress.

Prime Minister Kishida addresses a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. Behind him on the left is U.S. Vice President (and President of the Senate) Kamala Harris and on the right is Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson.

1. Introduction

　I am truly honored to speak here in this citadel of democracy and before you, the representatives of the American people. 　Since childhood, I have felt a connection to the United States, perhaps because I spent my first three years of elementary school at PS 20 and PS 13 in Queens, New York. 　After 60 years, I have a message for the good people of Queens. Thank you for making my family and me feel so welcome. 　So, I speak to you today as a long and close friend of the United States.

2. The leadership of the United States

　The U.S. shaped the international order in the postwar world through economic, diplomatic, military, and technological power. It championed freedom and democracy. 　The world needs the United States to continue playing this pivotal role in the affairs of nations. 　And yet, as we meet here today, I detect an undercurrent of self-doubt among some Americans about what your role in the world should be.

3. New Challenges

　This self-doubt is arising at a time when our world is at history’s turning point. The post-Cold War era is already behind us, and we are now at an inflection point that will define the next stage of human history. 　Freedom and democracy are currently under threat around the globe. 　Climate change has caused natural disasters, poverty, and displacement on a global scale. In the COVID-19 pandemic, all humanity suffered. 　Rapid advances in AI technology have resulted in a battle over the soul of AI that is raging between its promise and its perils. 　The balance of economic power is shifting. The Global South plays a greater role in responding to challenges and opportunities and calls for a larger voice. 　Turning to Japan’s own neighborhood, China’s current external stance and military actions present an unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge. 　As a Hiroshima native, I have devoted my political career to bringing about a world without nuclear weapons. But there exists an imminent danger of nuclear weapons proliferation in East Asia. North Korea’s nuclear and missile program is a direct threat. The issue of abductions by North Korea remains a critical issue. 　Russia’s unprovoked, unjust, and brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has entered its third year. As I often say, the Ukraine of today may be the East Asia of tomorrow. 　Facing such rapidly changing pressures, how do we continue to safeguard our common values?

4. Global Partners

　I want to address those Americans who feel the loneliness and exhaustion of being the country that has upheld the international order almost singlehandedly. 　Ladies and gentlemen, as the United States’ closest friend, tomodachi , the people of Japan are with you, side by side, to assure the survival of liberty. Not just for our people, but for all people. 　You are not alone. 　We are with you. 　Japan has changed over the years. We have transformed ourselves from a reticent ally, recovering from the devastation of World War II, to a strong, committed ally, looking outward to the world. 　Japan has transformed its national security strategy. Uncertainty about the future stability of the Indo-Pacific region caused us to change our policies and our very mindset. 　We first became a regional partner of the United States, and now we have become your global partner. Never has our relationship been so close, our vision and approach so united. 　Today, our partnership goes beyond the bilateral. Examples include trilateral and quadrilateral cooperation among the U.S., Japan, the Republic of Korea, Australia, India, and the Philippines, as well as cooperation through the G7 and with ASEAN. 　From these various endeavors emerges a multi-layered regional framework where our Alliance serves as a force multiplier. And, together with these like-minded countries, we are working to realize a Free and Open Indo-Pacific. 　Here in this chamber, we should have strong bipartisan support for these efforts. 　Japan believes in U.S. leadership, and we also believe in the U.S. economy. 　Japan is the number one foreign direct investor in the United States. Japanese companies have invested around 800 billion dollars, creating almost one million American jobs. 　Just yesterday, President Biden and I demonstrated our commitment to leading the world on the development of the next generation of emerging technologies, such as AI, quantum, semiconductors, biotechnology, and clean energy. 　And the scope of our bilateral cooperation expands to space as well. Yesterday, President Biden and I announced that a Japanese national will be the first non-American astronaut to land on the Moon on a future Artemis mission.

5. Conclusion

　I want you to know how seriously Japan takes its role as the United States’ closest ally. 　Bonded by our beliefs, I pledge to you Japan’s firm alliance and enduring friendship. 　“Global Partners for the Future.” – We are your global partner today, and we will be your global partner in the years ahead.

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PM Modi lands in Japan for G7 summit: Your primer on what to expect

G7 summit: pm modi's visit assumes significance as he is the first indian pm to travel japan's hiroshima, since the country conducted nuclear tests in 1974..

Food security, nuclear disarmament, climate change – these are the key issues likely to be tabled at the G7 summit to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Friday, May 19 to Sunday, May 21. The Prime Minister landed in Hiroshima, and was received by a Japanese delegation.

Landed in Hiroshima to join the G7 Summit proceedings. Will also be having bilateral meetings with various world leaders. pic.twitter.com/zQtSZUpd45 — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 19, 2023

The visit is particularly significant as PM Modi is India’s first PM to travel Japan’s Hiroshima, where the meet is being held, since India conducted nuclear tests in 1974. India is also the only G7 invitee which has not signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

1. Who will be in attendance at the G7 Summit?

The Group of Seven comprises of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The heads of governments of all the member countries, including US President Joe Biden and UK PM Rishi Sunak , will be present at the meeting.

In addition to India, which currently holds the G20 presidency, the G7 has invited EU, Australia, Brazil, Comoros (African Union chair), the Cook Islands (Pacific Islands Forum chair), Indonesia ( ASEAN chair), South Korea, and Vietnam to the annual conference. The UN, IMF, World Bank, WHO, and WTO will also attend the summit.

2. How long will the summit continue?

The three-day long summit kicked off on Friday, May 19, and will continue till Sunday, May 21.

3. What will they discuss at the summit?

Nuclear non-proliferation will be among the major points of debate on the agenda at G7, as per a statement issued by the White House on Thursday. Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, who himself hails from Hiroshima, will take the G7 attendees to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and Museum to pay respects to the bomb blast victims.

Russia’s war against Ukraine and its impacts on global food security and energy trade will also be tabled for dialogue.

4. What’s on PM Modi’s agenda?

India’s participation at the summit would be structured around two formal sessions — the first on May 20 and the second on May 21, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra had informed at a media briefing.

The first session will be on food, health, development and gender equality, and the second summit will focus on climate, energy and environment.

As India is the only attendee that has not signed the NPT, Delhi is also expected to underline that it views the NPT as discriminatory, and that the nation’s nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes.

PM Modi will also hold bilateral meetings with his Japanese counterpart Fumio and some other participating leaders on the sidelines of the summit, as per a statement by the PMO.

As PM @narendramodi is en route to Japan, take a quick look into what his three nation tour has in store. pic.twitter.com/PPY1lxKlir — Arindam Bagchi (@MEAIndia) May 19, 2023

5. What did PM Modi say in his departure statement?

In a public statement issued on Friday morning, PM Modi said that his presence at G7 is “particularly meaningful” this year as India holds the G20 presidency.

“I look forward to exchanging views with the G7 countries and other invited partners on challenges that the world faces and the need to collectively address them,” he stated.

Leaving for Japan, where I will be joining the @G7 Summit in Hiroshima. Looking forward to a healthy exchange of views on diverse global subjects. https://t.co/TYYOLeHAFH — Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 19, 2023

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Highlights of PM Narendra Modi’s Visit to Japan – May 2023

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Additionally, he embarked on an official visit to participate in key multilateral summits such as the 49th Group of Seven (G7) and the Quad Summit in 2023.

Participation in G7 Hiroshima Summit 2023:

The 49th G7 summit was held from 19 to 21 May 2023 in Hiroshima, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan.

i. As India has been invited as a guest country for the G7 summit , PM Narendra Modi participated in the annual summit of the G7 advanced economies in Hiroshima under the Japanese Presidency on May 20 2023. He talked about challenges facing the globe, including food, fertiliser and energy security.

ii. The broad terms of the G7 Summit preferences include nuclear disarmament, economic resilience and security, regional issues, climate and energy, food and health and development. Other priorities include digitisation and science and technology.

iii.Other Countries: Japan has also invited Australia, Brazil, Comoros, Cook Islands, Indonesia, South Korea, Vietnam and some international organisations including the UN(United Nations) for the annual G7 summit 2023.

Initiatives taken in G7 Summit :-

i. Together with the G7 Leaders’ Hiroshima Vision on Nuclear Disarmament, the group countries reaffirm the importance of disarmament and non-proliferation efforts to create a more stable and safer world.

ii. Group countries reaffirm the shared commitment to the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) and to working together and aiming to mobilize up to $600 billion by 2027.

iii. Initiatives that are intended to support clean energy transition in countries around the world, such as Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC) initiative, the Powering Past Coal Alliance (PPCA),2050 Pathways Platform, Net Zero World (NZW), and the Global Carbon Pricing Challenge and discussions included commitment to the Paris agreement, keeping a limit of 1.5°C global temperature rise within

Goal to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 with highlighting the increased urgency to reduce global GHG emissions by around 43 percent by 2030 and 60 percent by 2035.

iv. Initiative including such domestic policies that are designed to achieve 100 percent or the overwhelming penetration of sales of light duty vehicles (LDVs) as zero emission vehicles (ZEV) by 2035 and beyond; to achieve 100 percent electrified vehicles in new passenger car sales by 2035.

V.The summit also highlighted the commitments to the developed country Parties’ goal of jointly mobilizing $100 billion annually in climate finance by 2020 through to 2025 in the context of meaningful mitigation actions and transparency on implementation.

Group of Seven (G7) is an intergovernmental political forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States; additionally, the European Union.
The G7 is not based on a treaty and has no permanent secretariat or office. It is organized through a presidency that rotates annually among the member states, with the presiding state setting the group’s priorities and hosting and organizing its summit;
Japan currently holds the presidency of G7 for 2023. Italy will take over the presidency from Japan in 2024.

Bilateral Talk with World Leaders:

On the sidelines of the G7 Summit, PM Modi held bilateral talks with several world leaders.

i.France: PM Modi had a meeting with President of France Emmanuel Macron and reviewed both nation’s progress in Strategic Partnership in various areas, trade, economic spheres, civil aviation, renewables, co-production and manufacturing in defence sector, as well as civil nuclear cooperation.

Both leaders have exchanged views on regional developments and global challenges.

ii.Urkrain: While at the meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky , the President of Ukrain, PM Modi conveyed India’s support for dialogue and diplomacy as the preferred means to find a way forward for Ukraine. He also assured that India would continue extending humanitarian assistance to the people of Ukraine.

iii.Japan: Prime Minister also had a meeting with of PM of Japan Fumio Kishida and both discussed ways to enhance India-Japan friendship across different sectors including trade, economy and culture, ways to synergise efforts of their respective G7 and G20 Presidencies.

iv.South Korea: While meeting the President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol, PM Modi discussed ways to further boost India-South Korea friendship in key developmental sectors and agreed to deepen cooperation in areas of trade and investment, high technology, IT hardware manufacturing, defense, semiconductor, and culture.

v.Vietnam: PM Modi and Vietnamese PM Pham Minh Chinh discussed opportunities in the fields of defence, building resilient supply chains, energy, science and technology, human resource development, culture and people-to-people ties.

vi. PM Modi along with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and reviewed and assessed the progress in bilateral relations he also met President of United States of America (USA) Joe Biden.

Quad summit 2023:

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi participated in the third in-person Quad Leaders’ Summit in Hiroshima, Japan on 20 May 2023, along with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and President Joseph Biden of the United States of America.

This summit was hosted by Australian Prime Minister Albanese in Japan.
The Quad summit, initially set to happen in Sydney, Australia on May 24, had to be called off. The cancellation followed the US President’s announcement of postponing his visit due to ongoing debt ceiling negotiations in Washington.

ii. The Quad leaders from the US, India, Australia and Japan discussed measures to deepen their cooperation on critical and emerging technologies, high-quality infrastructure, global health, climate change, maritime domain awareness, and other issues that matter to the people of the Indo-Pacific.

About Quad – The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, commonly known as the Quad, is a strategic security dialogue between the four countries Australia, India, Japan and the United States.

-Unveiled a bust of Mahatma Gandhi

i. PM Modi unveiled a 42-inch tall bronze bust of Mahatma Gandhi in Hiroshima, Japan on 20 May 2023.

ii. The Mahatma Gandhi bust has been gifted by the Government of India to the city of Hiroshima as a symbol of friendship and goodwill between India and Japan.

iii. The bust has been sculpted by Padma Bhushan awardee Shri Ram Vanji Sutar . The location of the bust location adjacent to the Motoyasu River, which is close to the iconic A-Bomb Dome has been chosen as a mark of solidarity for peace and non-violence.

Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Genbaku Dome/A-Bomb Dome) was the only structure left standing in the area where the first atomic bomb exploded on 6 August 1945. It is the iconic ruin of the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall and it has become a symbol of both the horror of nuclear war and the hope for peace.
In December 1996 the A-Bomb Dome was registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List based on the Convention for the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage.

Dignitaries present during the unveiling ceremony include H.E Mr. Nakatani Gen, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister and Member of Parliament; Mr. Kazumi Matsui, Mayor of Hiroshima City; Mr. Tatsunori Motani, Speaker of the Hiroshima City Assembly; Members of Parliament from Hiroshima and senior government officials; members of the Indian community; and followers of Mahatma Gandhi in Japan.

About Japan :-

Prime Minister – Fumio Kishida Capital – Tokyo Currency – Japanese yen

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Previewing the Japanese Official Visit and Trilateral Leaders’ Summit

Photo: STAN HONDA/AFP via Getty Images

Transcript — April 2, 2024

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Download the Transcript 236kb

This transcript is from a CSIS press briefing hosted on April 2, 2024.

Alex Kisling: Brad, thanks so much. And hello, everybody, and welcome to the CSIS press briefing previewing next week’s official visit to the United States by Japanese Prime Minister Kishida, as well as the trilateral leaders’ summit between the United States, Japan, and the Philippines. We have a terrific lineup of CSIS experts joining the call today to share their perspectives on the context, significance, and political backdrop of the official visit and the trilateral summit.

Just a couple of housekeeping notes before we get started. Each of our speakers will offer a few minutes of introductory remarks, after which we’ll turn to your questions. We’ll also be distributing a transcript of today’s call to all participants in the next few hours, and a transcript will be made available on CSIS.org later today.

So, with that, why don’t we go ahead and get started? I’ll turn first to Dr. Victor Cha, senior vice president for Asia and the Korea chair here at CSIS. Victor over to you.

Victor Cha: Great. Thank you very much, Alex. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today to discuss the state visit of Prime Minister Kishida Japan, the trilateral summit with President Marcos, as well as the bilateral meeting between President Marcos and President Biden on April 10th and April 11th.

This is really a first in its own right, I think, and reflects the success in the way the administration has networked its bilateral alliances into these minilaterals to deal with issues like economic security, freedom of navigation, and a challenging security environment in the region. So just with a little bit of history, as you all know, the U.S. alliance network, when it started out –when it was built by people like John Foster Dulles at the end of the Second World War and the beginning of the Cold War, was envisioned as a set of exclusive security partnerships. If we use geometry, there were bilateral line segments, if you will, with each partner in Asia.

But what we have really seen, and we see it with this upcoming bilateral next week, is a flourishing of these many different shapes – pyramids, trilaterals, quadrilaterals. You’re all familiar with them, things like AUKUS, Camp David, IPEF, and others. And I – you know, I want to note at the beginning, that this is really unique – a unique phenomenon in the history of alliances, as we see states in the Indo-Pacific responding to the uncertainty and concerns that have been created by China’s assertive behavior in the region, on the sea and in the air, economic coercion.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that all countries are ready to sign up to some sort of strangulation of China, as Beijing has recently described it. But it does mean that countries are defining it as in their long-term interests to be a part – to welcome and to be a part of the U.S. commitment to the region, and they’re receptive to new ways to cooperate with the Biden administration, as we’re seeing on everything from the South China Sea to economic coercion to the Taiwan Strait.

Finally, I think it’s important to note that in this networking of the or mini-lateralizing of the American alliance system in Asia, the U.S.-Japan alliance really is the hub or the core of this effort. You see – what you have is the U.S.-Japan alliance as the core, and what you see is branching off and pulling in others for different forms of trilateral. So in Northeast Asia, it pulls in the South Koreans. In Southeast Asia, it’s pulling in the Philippines. In the South Pacific, it’s pulling in Australia. In the Taiwan Strait, obviously it’s pulling in Japan.

So the U.S.-Japan alliance really is sort of the core of this mini-lateral exercise. And so I think it’s appropriate that we start by talking with – about the U.S.-Japan alliance in the state visit next week with Chris.

So back to you, Alex.

Mr. Kisling: Victor, thank you.

We’ll turn next to Christopher Johnstone, CSIS senior adviser and our Japan chair. Chris, over to you.

Christopher B. Johnstone: OK, thanks, Alex. And thanks to everyone for joining this morning. Great to be here.

I’m going to focus a bit on the bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Kishida and leave the discussion of the Philippines component to my colleague Greg Poling.

But the first point to make, this is the first official visit by a Japanese leader since Prime Minister Abe in 2015. It’s called an official visit. It’s really the same thing as a state visit. The only difference is that Kishida is not technically the head of state in Japan. He’s the head of government. And so they call it an official visit. But the trappings are all basically the same.

It’s the highest diplomatic honor that can be accorded to a counterpart. These are rare; really only usually one or two a year. And for Biden, what this does by inviting Kishida, it rounds out the Quad. Now all members of the Quad have had a state visit to the White House, along with the president of South Korea; so a very heavy Indo-Pacific focus in these kinds of visits.

For Kishida, in addition to the visit to the White House, he’ll be giving a speech to the Congress on April 11th. He’ll be traveling to North Carolina, where he will visit, it’s said, a prospective Toyota investment in an EV battery plant. And then the trilateral meeting will take place on the 11th as well.

And for President Biden, this is, of course, a chance to highlight and cement progress in the relationship, the most important bilateral alliance in the Indo-Pacific, as Victor had said. It’s a chance to sustain urgency and momentum in this relationship.

For Kishida, it’s a chance to showcase his ties to the U.S., to prop up support at home. Nick will talk about this more a bit later. He does face some domestic political challenges. And it’s also a chance for Kishida to speak to a bipartisan audience in the United States in the form of this speech to Congress, because, like many partners, Tokyo is a bit nervous about the trajectory of politics in the United States.

So for this White House and from a U.S. perspective, this visit reflects the view that the relationship with Japan is in a period of historic strength. And Kishida himself has been an important leader and partner. And frankly, this was not particularly expected when he first came to office in 2021.

Since he took office, Japan has done a number of significant things that I think this visit will highlight – historic national-security and national-defense strategies that they released in 2022, which reflected a very strong focus on China, strong focus on strengthening the United States – relations with the United States, and a strong focus on strengthening Japan’s own defense capacity, to include increasing defense spending to 2 percent of GDP, investing in new capabilities, and a host of other steps that previous prime ministers, including Prime Minister Abe, were not able to deliver. Kishida did. And, in fact, defense spending is up in Japan 50 percent over the last two years.

Kishida has been a strong supporter on Ukraine, also something that was not necessarily expected. Prime Minister Abe had a history of seeking to engage President Putin. That was at times a source of friction with Washington.

Kishida has taken a much more clear stance in support of the West, the G-7, and responding to the invasion, and Kishida was an effective steward last year of the G-7 process, driving a focus on economic security, responding to economic coercion, promoting cooperation on technology.

And there are other issues as well where I think from this White House’s perspective Kishida has been important – the breakthrough in ties with South Korea, which although I think it’s fair to say is – more credit is deserved by President Yoon than Kishida but still nonetheless he’s helped to build on this opportunity.

So a broad strong sense of alignment but I also think a need to sustain a sense of urgency on progress as politics in both countries, in both Japan and the United States, become more complicated.

So I think – let me say a few words about deliverables before I hand it back. I think the deliverables of this meeting will reflect sort of a combination of consolidation and operationalization. Less a focus on grand statements of intent, more a focus on the specifics of execution locking in progress, institutionalizing progress, translating strategic alignment into concrete action.

And I expect to see things centered in a handful of buckets. The first and the biggest bucket will be defense. I expect that you will see a statement of intent to modernize the command and control architecture of the alliance to the move toward modernizing the structure and authorities of the U.S. command structure in Japan and moving to a new structure of interaction with Japan with a new operational command that’s been established in Japan.

So this will take us in the direction of a much more true military alliance than we’ve had before in the U.S.-Japan context. The summit, I expect, will point a direction. Won’t set out the specifics of a vision but will point a direction in the handoff to the Department of Defense to put the meat on those bones.

Then I think you’ll see other concrete steps to strengthen what I would call the credibility of the alliance, a pilot training initiative, for example, that will be quite significant in strengthening air power cooperation.

You’ll see a host of things related to defense industry cooperation, some co-production equipment – of defense equipment to, perhaps, include air defense missiles in particular, an announcement related to the maintenance and repair of U.S. equipment in Japan so that we don’t have to bring some of that equipment back to the United States – that work could be done in Japan – and the announcement of a new defense industrial policy coordination forum that will be intended to drive cooperation on specific capabilities. So I think a pretty substantive agenda on defense will be announced.

A second area that my colleague Kari will discuss in more detail relates to space. There’s deep and expanding cooperation in both the civilian and the defense side. I think you’ll see some announcements related to the Artemis Moon landing campaign, perhaps the announcement of a contribution by Japan of the lunar rover vehicle, and they will likely say something about Japanese astronauts being at least among the first international partners to land on the Moon as part of the Artemis effort.

A third will be a host of initiatives related to technology – AI, quantum, climate change and clean energy – a discussion of coordination of policy related to tech promotion and tech protection, obviously, a central issue in the alliance these days. And, again, one of the big highlights will be this visit by Kishida to the EV battery plant in North Carolina, which will be a significant investment and employ, of course, a number of Americans.

And then there will be – I think a couple of other buckets will be global development and diplomacy and people-to-people ties where I expect to see things like an announcement of Japanese investment in undersea cable, for example, in the Indo-Pacific region.

I’ll close by noting one issue you will not see addressed in the announcements and that’s Nippon Steel – the prospective Nippon Steel acquisition of U.S. Steel. The leaders will seek to sidestep it, at least publicly, and not talk about it unless they have to. But it certainly does loom in the background. And I think it’s fair to say that it symbolizes for Japan both some of the tension in the Biden administration’s foreign policy, and some of the issues on the minds of many partners about the trend lines in American politics.

So let me – let me stop there and return it back to Alex. And I’m sure we can talk more in the Q&A. Thanks.

Mr. Kisling: Chris, thank you.

We’ll turn next to Kari Bingen, director of the CSIS Aerospace Security Project and our senior fellow with the International Security Program. Kari, over to you.

Kari A. Bingen: Great. Thanks, Alex. And thanks, everyone, for being here this morning.

So space is one of those new or expanded ways of cooperating and further building a deeper relationship, as both Victor and Chris have highlighted. It is becoming even more prominent in the relationship. And there are a few areas of focus and investment that I’d like to highlight. So while there has been a longstanding JAXA-NASA civilian space relationship and deep cooperation over decades, we’re also seeing a new focus on space security and how space capabilities aid national security and defense. And this is significant, and really came out of the 2022 security and defense strategy that Chris highlighted. This emphasis on space security is driven by the security environment – China’s military buildup, North Korea’s unprecedented missile launches, and then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which could presage what aggression in the region would look like.

Tokyo also sees the economic and technology benefits of space. It helps to spur private sector innovation and attract technical talent. And space has become an agenda item, specifically in these high-level discussions. So last January when President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida met, they agreed – they inked a bilateral space agreement which covered cooperation on space exploration, but also discussed the need to better align our force postures in the space domain. For eight successive times, there has been a comprehensive bilateral dialogue bringing together space leadership across our U.S. interagency, as well as Japanese counterparts. And for the first time last year, they held a track 1.5, which brought together both governments and both business communities as well. So we’re also seeing increased investment going into space, both on the civilian and the security side.

So across both civil and security space, I’ll be looking for announcements or emphasis in three areas. And Chris touched on this a bit, so I’ll expand here. The first area, I would say, would be in astronauts and Artemis. So Japan would like to see a Japanese astronaut land on the Moon as one of the first non-American international delegations in the late 2020s. So I’ll be listening for any announcements on further contributions to the Artemis Program that Japan would make, as well as that possible announcement of a Japanese astronaut being part of a future Artemis mission to land on the Moon, and possibly the first international mission.

The second area would be in missile warning and missile defense. I mentioned, the missile threat is acute for them. China and then North Korea in particular, both are not only building their missile inventories but also advancing more sophisticated missiles that can maneuver. The hypersonic glide vehicle, the HGV, is a significant concern. So you need space to be able to access those denied areas or those deep in country launch sites and understand what’s going on. Space provides large coverage areas and good geometry to be able to detect and track missile launchers and missile trajectories, particularly these advanced missiles like hypersonic vehicles.

So I’ll be looking for announcements on further collaboration in the areas of missile warning and missile defense, specifically to address that HGV, or hypersonic glide vehicle, threat. And then possibly further cooperation on actual satellite architectures or satellite constellations, and potentially industry cooperation. And then lastly, I’ll be looking for announcements related to greater data sharing and experimentation. So this could be greater sharing on the threat picture, and then both sides are interested in more, I’ll say, operational-level data sharing and analysis.

So I’ll pause and turn it back over to Alex.

Mr. Kisling: Thank you, Kari.

Before we turn to our next speaker, just a reminder that if you want to ask a question, please press one and then zero. We have a couple speakers left, but after that we will turn to your questions and answer them as best we can.

So our next speaker is Nicholas Szechenyi, senior fellow with the CSIS Japan Chair and our deputy director for Asia. Nick, over to you.

Nicholas Szechenyi: Thanks, Alex. And it’s a pleasure to be with you all today.

I’m going to focus my remarks on the political backdrop to the official visit, and I’ll start with Kishida. Chris mentioned that Prime Minister Kishida is facing some political headwinds at home. His approval rating has lingered in the 20 percent range for the last several months due primarily to a funding scandal in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which he leads, which has proved rather embarrassing and is really dominating the domestic political debate in Japan. He also faces three by-elections for the Diet, or the parliament, at the end of April, so political observers are keeping a close eye on that to see how LDP candidates fare. And then, as leader of the LDP, Kishida needs to run again. There’s a leadership race for president of the ruling party in September. And in addition, there are rumors floating around consistently about whether Kishida might call a snap election at some point prior to September to generate some momentum ahead of that race.

So, on the domestic political front, Kishida is on the defensive. And so this visit to Washington is extremely important because it – for any Japanese leader, but in this political context especially because he wants to show as the leader of Japan that the U.S.-Japan alliance is strong, and that Japan is a leader regionally and globally. And the hope is that this will help him generate some momentum when he returns home to face the very challenging political calendar.

There’s also a political backdrop to the – to the official visit on the U.S. side, which has already been referenced – primarily, President Biden’s comment in mid-March on Nippon Steel’s proposed acquisition of U.S. Steel. I think Japan has a very sophisticated understanding of U.S. politics and understands that this is a domestic political issue, and the Kishida administration has largely refrained from comment and, not surprisingly, is stressing the strength of the U.S.-Japan relationship and all the progress that has been made in various areas that have already been highlighted by my colleagues.

And I agree with Chris Johnstone that the two leaders will not want to address the Nippon Steel issue, but I think the timing of President Biden’s comments were pretty bad leading up to this official visit. And it could create an awkward dynamic where Kishida, for example, could be asked to comment on Nippon Steel, and President Biden could be asked, you know, whether Japanese investment is in the U.S. national interest or whether Japanese investment is a threat to U.S. national security. And this is unfortunate because it would – it would really be devastating if a domestic political issue like Nippon Steel ends up overshadowing the strategic importance of the U.S.-Japan relationship which this official visit is meant to convey. But we’ll just have to see what plays out on that front.

Lastly, you know, can’t comment on this visit without noting that Japan is very keenly watching the U.S. presidential campaign. The comment or the question that we hear frequently from Japanese interlocutors is, what if Trump wins – or, “moshitora” in Japanese. (Laughs.) And I would say that, you know, in 2016, when Abe Shinzo was prime minister, after the election he brought a message to the U.S., which was simply that Japan is an ally that is stepping up. That was a very effective message. And he developed a personal connection with President Trump, which helped bolster U.S.-Japan ties and sustain momentum in the relationship.

I think Japan’s message this time is exactly the same and even more compelling, given everything Kishida has done to bolster Japan’s strategic and diplomatic weight. So looking ahead to next year, the message Japan will bring to Washington will be clear. Japan is stepping up. But what isn’t clear is who Japan’s messenger will be. And that could be a factor if the U.S. enters a period of political transition.

I’ll stop there and turn it back to Alex.

Mr. Kisling: Thanks, Nick.

We’ll turn to Greg as our final speaker here in just a second. A reminder: If you want to ask a question, please press one and then zero. We’ll turn to your questions after Greg.

So without further ado, I’ll turn it over to Gregory Poling, senior fellow and director of the CSIS Southeast Asia Program and our Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. Greg, the floor is yours.

Gregory B. Poling: Thanks, Alex. And I’ll keep it brief because I know I’m the last one between everybody and their questions.

So the day after the bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Kishida, we’ll have the trilateral summit where President Marcos from the Philippines will take part, and the next day will be the bilateral meeting between President Biden and President Marcos.

I should start by noting just the timing of this speaks to how important I think both the White House and Manila view the deepening alliance, because Marcos was just in Washington barely a year ago for an official working visit, during which we saw a bevy of security and economic announcements, including the conclusion of the first-ever U.S.-Philippine bilateral defense guidelines.

And that has been – well, it was – a major step in an ongoing process to make the Philippine alliance more mature, more equal; make it look more like the U.S.-Japan alliance, and to a degree the U.S.-Korea and the U.S.-Australia alliance. That dates back to the end of 2021, when you had the first bilateral strategic dialogue between the two countries since COVID. And they came up with a roadmap, essentially, among the alliance, what was called the Joint Vision Statement for a 21st Century Partnership. And they’ve been marching through that roadmap for now the last two and a half years; really more progress than we’ve seen in the U.S.-Philippine alliance since at least the ’70s.

In parallel to that, you have this deepening of Philippine ties with other security partners, referring back to what Victor mentioned, in meshing the networking of U.S. alliances and security partnerships between those allies, even when the Americans aren’t in the room. We’ve seen a deepening of the Philippine-Australia relationship, new agreements with the Philippines-U.K., Philippines-Canada, most recently Philippines-France, but most of all has been the deepening of the Philippine-Japan security relationship. And this has been deepening quietly for more than a decade, but it’s really accelerated in the last couple of years.

Japan made its first-ever overseas military sale to the Philippines – well, for their overseas military sales, period – and that went to the Philippines a couple of years ago in the form of air-defense radar. Last year Japan gave the Philippines its first grant under its new official security-assistance program for coastal radar.

The Philippines and Japan are in the final stages of negotiating a reciprocal access agreement, which would allow Japanese troops to train in the Philippines and vice versa. This would be Japan’s first-ever what we would call a visiting-forces agreement, what Japan calls an RAA, first ever with an Asian nation. Its only others are those with Australia and the U.K., just negotiated in the last couple of years.

So there’s a lot of momentum building in both of these relationships that they want to coordinate better at the summit. And, of course, the impetus for all of that is China. The Philippines is feeling increasingly that it has no options but deepening its security alliances with the U.S. and with other partners because the Marcos administration views Beijing as implacable when it comes to the South China Sea.

And, as if to emphasize that point, just last week we had another violent clash around Second Thomas Shoal, where the Philippines have a small military outpost that it has to keep resupplied. Two Chinese coast-guard ships surrounded a civilian resupply vessel manned by Philippine sailors and used high-pressure water cannons on it, severely damaging the vessel, injuring at least two sailors and threatening the lives of others on board. We also had another incident that same week in which a PLA Navy helicopter hovered low over a group of Philippine marine scientists in the South China Sea, injuring several of them.

And that builds on a whole series of violent incidents, including rammings, water cannons, use of acoustic devices and lasers over the last year. So the South China Sea, while I remain cautiously optimistic that the Philippines is succeeding its efforts to push back on China and establish a new status quo, it remains extremely dangerous. It remains a place where I think U.S.-China conflict is most likely, because of the alliance with the Philippines and China’s use of aggression. And it is a place where clearly the Philippines need support from partners in order to deter China from moving out of this so-called gray zone to outright military aggression.

And the last thing I should note is, when we look to whatever the deliverables are from this trilateral, it’s not all going to be security. There’s also been a concerted focus by both Tokyo and Washington to support the Marcos administration’s economic efforts, which are to develop more high-end manufacturing, including Philippine involvement in semiconductor supply chain, more green energy, more critical mineral production. We had the 123 Civil Nuclear Agreement between the U.S. and the Philippines concluded last year. So there’s – oh, and food security has been a huge priority for the Marcos government.

So I suspect that whatever security announcements there are, which will of course garner a lot of attention, it will be bolstered by a series of economic initiatives meant to essentially give Marco something he can go back home and, say: See? The American alliance isn’t just about security. The Americans are also productive economic partners. And therefore, we have the space to stand up to China, as needed.

And I’ll wrap there.

Mr. Kisling: Thanks, Greg. Really appreciate it. And thanks to all of our speakers.

So why don’t we open it up for questions now? I’ll turn it over to our operator, Brad, to open up the line. And we have a number of great questions here in the queue. So, Brad, why don’t we go ahead with our first question?

Operator: Perfect. Thank you.

And we’ll go to Morgan Chalfant with Semafor. Please go ahead.

Q: Thank you so much for doing this.

I just have two questions. Can one of you just talk through exactly how the modernization of the command structure will affect security cooperation with Japan and how long that will take? And then, secondly, you mentioned just kind of Japan’s message of commitment and how that, you know, could be aimed at a potential Trump administration. Can you – can you talk through kind of how Japan is conveying that message and how you’d expect them to be kind of engaging with the Trump world at this point in time?

Mr. Kisling: Chris, would you like to jump in on that first?

Mr. Johnstone: Yeah, sure. Sorry, I was struggling with my mute button. (Laughs.) So I’ll take the first one and maybe invite Nick to take the second one. So on the command relationships with Japan, the first point to make is that the command structure of the U.S.-Japan alliance is nothing like the command structure of what’s in the U.S.-South Korea relationship, which is a combined command, deep integration of forces, unity of command that enables the alliance – in the language they use on the peninsula – to, quote, “fight tonight.” The relationship with Japan has been nothing like that.

For decades Japan was quite simply a platform for U.S. operations in the region. And the priority of cooperating with Japan itself as a military partner was much lower on the list for the United States. That has changed – begun to change over the last decade. It’s accelerating with this buildup that Japan has undertaken, the acquisition, for example, of Tomahawk cruise missiles. So moving in the direction of a Japan that is much more capable and much more able to respond to an emerging contingency. So that means that, as an alliance, we need to be postured to respond together more seamlessly and rapidly as well. So this is where modernizing the structure of command comes to come into play.

Japan is establishing a new joint operations command, which will have authority over joint operations of the Self Defense Forces. And it’s natural to think about establishing a similar counterpart in Japan on the United States side. Today, there is no joint operational commander in Japan on the U.S. side. That commander is at INDOPACOM. So there’s thinking going on inside the Department of Defense. There are number of ways to do this to strengthen the staff and the authorities of U.S. Forces Japan or some other element to enable more operational planning and more day-to-day operations between U.S. forces in Japan and the Japanese side.

So this will take some time. I think as I said in my opening remarks what you’ll see I think is a direction of travel that will be indicated by the leaders that will then be picked up by the 2+2, the meeting of defense and foreign ministers and secretaries of defense and secretary of state later in the year to put more details on this.

No doubt implementation would take a couple of years once a vision is set. But I think there’s a consensus that a new command and control architecture for the U.S.-Japan alliance is necessary and that’s what the leaders will signal or at least what I expect that they will signal next week.

I hope that answers the question.

Q: Yeah. Thanks so much.

Mr. Kisling: And next we can move to George Condon. Excuse me, George Condon is next.

Mr. Szechenyi: Sorry. This is –

Mr. Kisling: Go ahead.

Mr. Szechenyi: This is Nick. Can I answer the second part of the question?

Mr. Kisling: My apology. Go ahead.

Mr. Szechenyi: Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.

So, I mean, I think when former Prime Minister Abe navigated the transition to the first Trump administration what he did very successfully was basically project confidence in Japan’s leadership role, especially on defense.

His strategy was about strengthening Japan’s defense capabilities, really focusing on ties with the U.S. and partnering with other like-minded countries in Asia and that was really effective at a time when Trump was questioning the commitment of allies and was really focused on how much U.S. allies were contributing to defense.

Abe also developed a very compelling foreign policy strategy called the free and open Indo-Pacific, which was basically about networking in Asia across a range of issue areas. That also animated the Trump administration, and the Trump administration and other governments around the world gradually implemented their own free and open Indo-Pacific strategies.

So Japan had a lot of influence on the way the Trump administration thought about Asia and I think, you know, fast forwarding to this visit by Kishida he’s carried forward that very pragmatic foreign policy strategy and has doubled down even more on defense spending.

So as I said earlier, the message Japan is bringing to the U.S. is very compelling. It’s a positive message about Japan’s leadership role regionally and globally and I think that will certainly generate momentum if there’s a second Biden administration and it will certainly animate a second Trump administration.

The wild card, which we can’t predict yet, of course, is whether Kishida will be engaging or whether it will be another Japanese leader, and given that personal connections to President Trump are so important, you know, that’s a question mark and something we’re just going to have to follow whether the personal connection between leaders generates momentum.

But from a strategic standpoint the blueprint that Japan has laid out is going to be compelling regardless of which candidate wins the election.

Mr. Kisling: Thanks, Nick, and thanks, Chris. And, Morgan, thanks for the question.

Brad, why don’t we go to the next question?

Operator: Thank you. We’ll go to George Condon with National Journal. Please go ahead.

Q: Great. Thanks much.

It’s sort of a more fundamental question. I mean, with so much of our own focus now on the Middle East/Gaza/Ukraine, does Japan see this visit as a chance to remind Washington not to take its eye off the Indo-Pacific or is it Biden who sees it as a chance to reassure them that we haven’t forgotten you or the region?

Mr. Kisling: Victor, would you want to respond to that one? Chris as well?

Dr. Cha: Yeah. Sure.

So a couple of thoughts. The first is I think as Chris said, the – this official visit/state visit for Japan will sort of round out the group of Quad countries that have received the highest honor in terms of what the White House can offer. I know this – it just seems like theatrics but, as all know, at the summit level these ceremonies and the words that the leaders use in joint statements and in press conferences, they constitute policy, right? They are an important signal to allies and to others that this is where the United States prizes, you know, its most treasured relationships.

So I think this is certainly a signal to the domestic audiences, I think, both in Japan and the Philippines. But it’s also a very important signal to others that these alliances are really sort of – they’re not just sitting status quo. They are being elevated. They are being improved. They are being upgraded in ways that, you know, are quite historic. I mean, Chris and Nick talked a moment ago about possible changes we might see in the command structure of the U.S.-Japan relationship. You know, not to make it look like the U.S.-Korea relationship, but to make it more of a force that would be ready to fight, if necessary. You know, these are big steps. And from a Japanese domestic political perspective, these are big steps.

Second thing I would say is that you’re absolutely right, I mean, George, that there is – I mean, clearly the administration is quite focused on these other issues, both in Europe and in the Middle East. But at the same time, you know, I think they’ve done a pretty good job of walking and chewing gum at the same time. And the chewing gum part is that Asia sometimes is not very loud. It’s done very quietly. So there’s a lot of cooperation and activity taking place between the United States and Taiwan, for example, now, that – you know, that rivals the sort of cooperation – or, even exceeds the cooperation that exists with current treaty allies. And as Kari said, you know, there are new horizons in which the alliances are beginning to operate. Space being one of them – both with Korea and – with Japan and with Korea.

So I don’t think – I would not characterize this as sort of a visit where they’re kind of losing attention so they’re trying to bring the attention back. But I think that there’s been a pretty steady agenda, despite all of the distractions – not minor distractions – in other places. And, you know, we’re seeing, both with the Japan visit and the deliverables that Chris laid out, as well as, you know, this idea of this trilateral with the Philippines. And then Marcos’ second visit in a very short period of time really are efforts to try and elevate the alliance, not just sort of tread water.

Mr. Kisling: Thanks, Victor.

Chris or Nick, do you want to add anything there?

Mr. Johnstone: I guess the only point that I’d make briefly is that I think you’ll see the administration continue to look for opportunities this year to highlight an ongoing focus on the Indo-Pacific. I think even, for example, when the NATO summit is in Washington this July, I think you can expect that a number of Indo-Pacific leaders, including Prime Minister Kishida, will – may well come back for that. So they’ll continue to look for ways to highlight that the Indo-Pacific is still very much part of the agenda.

Mr. Kisling: All right. Thanks, Chris. Thanks, Victor.

Brad, let’s go to the next question.

Operator: Thank you. We’ll go to Darlene Superville with Associated Press. Please go ahead.

Q: Hi. Thanks for taking my question.

It’s a broader question about the concept of state visit in general. And I’m wondering if someone can talk a little bit about, or if anyone knows, whether this is the kind of thing that foreign governments actually lobby for. You know, like, do they talk to the secretary of state or the national security advisor when they’re in meeting with those folks and say, you know, you know, we’d love to come on a state visit, or something like that? I’m just curious how some of this works. Thank you.

Dr. Cha: So – it’s Victor. I’ll take part of that, and Chris, I’m sure, can speak to it as well.

Q: Thank you.

Dr. Cha: So, half-jokingly, this is what ambassadors are paid for, right? (Laughs.) You know, every White House comes in and they have a sort of – a taxonomy of visits, everything from – you know, everything from a working-level visit, which doesn’t have, like, the pomp and circumstance of a South Lawn arrival ceremony, and a black-tie dinner. So, like, a working-level visit, which will be like morning meetings and then a lunch; to an official visit, to a state visit, which is everything with the bells and whistles. You know, most leaders, I think, when they come to Washington, of course, would love to have a state visit, but it’s not something that White House protocol or White House policy doles out sort of like chewing gum. It’s usually meant for special occasions, for – to mark a milestone in the relationship, things of that nature. So what’s why I said in my earlier comments these things are not – they look like they’re about theatrics, but they really are about policy, and signaling both to friends and to others how close – how close and important the relationship is and whether they’re marking certain milestones in the relationship.

Chris, I don’t know if you want to – you want to add anything to that.

Mr. Johnstone: Yeah. I’d just add – so I agree with all that. I’d just say a couple things.

First of all, you know, there are – there are different categories of visits, right? There is working visit, official working visit, official visit. They all come with set packages of activities that involve the president. So these things, the kind of visit it is has particular meaning.

And as I said, a state visit or official visit, usually there’s one, maybe two of these a year. If you think about it, the Biden administration effectively lost a couple of years because of the COVID pandemic. So I think it’s quite significant that when you look at the five or six that have been done, the heavy focus – I guess it’s actually five, I think – the heavy focus on the Indo-Pacific, right – now all the Quad partners, South Korea, and then France as well, I guess. So this is all – this is all very intentional and signals priority, and the partners recognize that. And sure, certainly partners lobby for visits to the White House, including state visits. But they’re handed out very selectively and based on a – based on a strategy, in my experience.

Mr. Kisling: Next we’ll go to –

Operator: And –

Mr. Kisling: Yeah. Please go ahead.

Operator: Pardon me. I apologize. Next go to Anri Higa with Kyodo News. Please go ahead.

Q: Hello. Can you hear me?

Mr. Kisling: Yeah. Go ahead.

My question is about the reform of command and – control and command of U.S. forces in Japan, as mentioned earlier, with Japan’s – (inaudible) – of joint operational command next year and with the reform of command and – control-and-command structure of USFJ. Could strengthening that tie between U.S.-Japan alliance lead – I mean, send a kind of signal to China, and then the U.S.-Japan alliance is THE alliance that perceives China as a significant adversary? (Inaudible.) Thank you.

Mr. Kisling: Chris or Nick?

Mr. Johnstone: Sure, I’ll jump in on that. So I think what I would say on this, first of all, there’s – just to sort of build on what I said earlier, I don’t expect that you’re going to see the U.S. and Japan move fully to establish what exists in South Korea today, a truly integrated combined command. That’s not in the cards for a variety of reasons for the – for the U.S. and Japan.

But there’s clearly a need for a structure that enables the United States and Japan to respond more nimbly, more rapidly, more seamlessly to evolving contingencies. And from my point of view, that’s not provocative at all. It’s simply – A, it’s a natural evolution in the relationship that reflects the larger security role that Japan is playing. And it reflects a pragmatic approach to the challenges that exist in Asia today. Whether you’re thinking about North Korean provocations, missile/nuclear threats, Chinese maritime assertiveness, the broader buildup in China, this is a natural and I think important step in the development of the alliance that will contribute to deterrence. A more – a more integrated and responsive and credible U.S.-Japan alliance is good for the region and good for deterrence.

Mr. Kisling: Thanks, Chris.

Nick, do you have anything to add here?

Mr. Szechenyi: Yeah. I would just say briefly that if China’s objective is to pressure its neighbors and weaken the U.S. alliance network in Asia, it is failing. And C2 modernization in the U.S.-Japan alliance sends a strong signal about jointness and interoperability, which does send a strong signal to China, in my view.

Dr. Cha: Hey, it’s Victor right now. Let me just add one other point, which is, you know, the interesting thing about the question is that you could frame the question in another way of looking at it, which is that the – you know, the absence of an ability for the United States and Japan to work together in a military contingency, if that is something that is perceived by China as a vulnerability, then actually that creates a more unstable environment because it gives China the incentive to believe that it can succeed in some sort of military action, let’s say, across the Taiwan Strait or in the East China Sea.

So the efforts to try to improve the alliance really is trying to help foster credible deterrence and maintain peace rather than allow for an environment in which China could miscalculate.

Mr. Kisling: Great. Thank you.

Operator: Thank you.

(Gives queueing instructions.)

Next we can go to Rachel Oswald with CQ Roll Call. Please go ahead.

Q: Hi. Thanks for this.

My question has to do with AUKUS and Pillar 2 of AUKUS. I’m wondering if you think there’s a chance of any headway being made in at some point bringing Japan into Pillar 2, new technology development. Japan has been sometimes mentioned as a likely next partner if they ever decide to expand AUKUS beyond the U.K. and Australia.

Mr. Johnstone:

I can take that, Alex. This is Chris.

Mr. Kisling: Great. Yeah, please.

Mr. Johnstone: Yeah. So thanks for the question. It’s a good point. I do expect there’ll be some reference to AUKUS Pillar 2 in the joint statement, some broad statement of intent to identify a project that Japan could participate in under Pillar 2.

My sense is that there is not yet a consensus among the three AUKUS partners on what that project is, but there is a broad consensus that Japan should be one of the first, if not the first, partners that’s brought in as part of an expanded effort on a particular project.

I do think that this raises the broader question of a broader issue set related to technology-release policies for Japan. As I think you well know, there’s an effort in Congress to create AUKUS carve-out to facilitate technology release, information sharing, among the AUKUS partners. And I think it may be – as we think about Japan participating in a particular project, it may be time to think about how we expand those carve-outs to include other partners that are bringing something to the table in defense-industrial cooperation.

You know, I think the war in Ukraine has really spotlighted the importance of allied defense-industrial capacity as a vital part of deterrence and a vital part of, you know, sustaining our collective ability to fight. And so I think this issue is part of a larger issue set for the United States in enabling more easily cooperation on technology, cooperation on defense equipment, with our closest friends, because we need it. It’s in our interest.

Operator: Thank you. Next we’ll go to Patsy Widakuswara with Voice of America. Please go ahead.

Pardon me. Patsy, your line is open.

Q: Can you hear me?

Operator: We can now.

Q: OK. Sorry about that. And sorry if this has been raised earlier, because I joined in a little late.

Can you give me some context in how President Biden might explain the goals of the trilat summit to President Xi in his call today, particularly on the series of initiatives to counter China’s behavior in the South China Sea? And then I have a second question on how much of the trilat will discuss U.S. wanting to rely on Japan and the Philippines should Washington need to come to Taiwan’s defense against a potential Chinese invasion? Thanks.

Mr. Kisling: Greg, do you want to lead off there?

Mr. Poling: Yeah, happy to. I don’t know that we’re going to see any deviation from the public talking points when it comes to how President Biden might speak about the summit to President Xi. Both Secretary Blinken said it, you know, last week, and in the official statement from the White House we saw a heavy focus on the economic aspect of the summit, plus defense overall and a free and open Indo-Pacific.

We’ll hear, you know, the standard language that the U.S. has an ironclad commitment with the Philippines, and is – you know, I don’t know if they’ll speak about the alliance, but clearly the U.S. has said over, and over, and over that it committed to defend the Philippines in the case of any aggression in the South China Sea. So, of course, there will be no effort to rub salt in the wounds here, but the goal is to deter Chinese aggression and make clear to Xi and the leadership that the U.S. will not stand idly by if this gray zone coercion continues to escalate, and potentially leads to the loss of lives of Filipino sailors.

As for Taiwan, I’m sure we will see some language about, you know, concern over cross-strait tensions. The Philippines is, I’d say, over the last two years, having more sophisticated conversations internally and with partners about its role in Taiwan crises. That started with then-Speaker Pelosi’s visit. And President Marcos has made clear that the Philippines cannot be a neutral party, given its geography. But it is not at the place that Japan is. So you’re not going to see the level of sophistication in those conversations. To this point, the deepening of the U.S.-Philippine alliance, and the Philippine-Japan partnership are about the South China Sea, first and foremost. And any talk about Taiwan is going to remain secondary.

Mr. Kisling: Thanks, Greg. Would anyone else like to jump in?

Q: Oh, can I – I’m sorry, can I – can I just add a clarification, if I may? I guess I wanted to know if the timing of the Biden-Xi call today is related at all to – you know, to preempt the trilat summit next week?

Mr. Poling: I don’t have any insights on that. Maybe others do.

Mr. Kisling: Victor.

Dr. Cha: This is Victor. Yeah, it’s Victor. Sorry, yeah, I don’t have any insights either. Having said that, it wouldn’t surprise me if Xi raised it. They have a number of other issues to talk about, most recently of which was China’s abstention on the U.N. Security Council resolution last week on North Korea – the one that Russia vetoed. Which I know we are – we, the United States – are not very happy with. I mean, kind of expected it from Russia, but didn’t really expect China to abstain. So there are a host of other things. But it wouldn’t surprise me if it came up.

Mr. Kisling: We’re just about to hit the hour here. I think we have time for just one more question. I’ll just say in advance, sorry to those who we could not get to their questions this morning. Of course, feel free to reach out to my colleague Sam Cestari with the CSIS media relations team, and we’ll be happy to answer your question later today.

So, Brad, why don’t we go to our final question now?

Operator: Thank you. And that’ll be from Paris Huang with Voice of America. Please go ahead.

Q: Oh, thank you. Actually, my question is somewhat related to what my colleague Patsy just asked.

You guy talk about in the statement U.S. and Japan is kind of upgrading the military command. Japanese media reported that this deal is aimed to face China’s more – be able to face China more timely and effectively, especially if China invades Taiwan. And we’re already seeing the United States and Japan has this alliance in case something happens in Taiwan, and at the same time we are seeing Japan and Philippines also talking about a Reciprocal Access Agreement. So is this trilat a U.S. effort trying to move forward to have Philippines join United States and Japan as a trilateral effort to deter or to react if China attacks Tawain? And how is – or, what is Philippines attitude towards this push? Thank you.

Mr. Kisling: Greg, we’ll turn it back to you.

Mr. Poling: Thanks. So I think the short answer is no. The U.S. – I don’t think the administration views the deepening of the alliance with the Philippines or the trilateralization of the relationship with Japan and the Philippines as being primarily about Taiwan. You know, I know that when we talk about, you know, public perceptions of U.S. efforts in the Indo-Pacific and conversations on the Hill, everything tends to come back to Taiwan. But I don’t think that’s where the Pentagon is. It’s definitely not where Manila is. It’s not where Tokyo is. The deepening of the Philippine-Japan relationship dates back to the Abe and Aquino administrations 10 years ago. And it’s always been about the Japanese perception that the South China Sea and the East China Sea are a single problem, right? That China’s maritime aggression is a threat to the whole region.

Taiwan is increasingly part of the conversation, given growing concerns, but it’s not the focus of the alliance or the security cooperation. And I think both Prime Minister Kishida and President Biden are very aware that, you know, a week after Filipino sailors were nearly killed by Chinese navy aggression, the last thing they can do is walk into a room and tell Marcos that he should be worrying more about Taiwan than about his own people.

Mr. Kisling: Nick? Kari? Would anybody else like to jump in?

Well, if not, I think we have – we’ve reached our hour here. I want to thank all of our speakers and all of our participants for joining us this morning for this – for this timely call. Feel free, for all of our participants, to please reach out to the CSIS media team for anything we can do to help be a resource looking ahead to these activities next week. We’re here to help, so don’t hesitate to reach out.

As mentioned at the top of the call, we will have a transcript distributed to all of you in the next few hours. It’ll also be available on CSIS.org.

So, with that I hope everybody has a good rest of your day, and thanks for joining us.

(END.)

Japan PM leaves for U.S., Germany for summits amid security concerns

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida left for Washington on Wednesday to attend a NATO summit to confirm cooperation with the alliance in addressing the increasingly severe security challenges posed by Russia and China.

During his five-day overseas trip through Sunday, Kishida is also slated to visit Germany for talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, with economic security likely to top the agenda. The two leaders plan to hold a joint press appearance after their meeting.

"I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm a sustainable cooperative relationship between NATO and its Indo-Pacific partners," Kishida told reporters before leaving Tokyo.

Based on the idea that the security of the Indo-Pacific region and Europe is inseparable, Tokyo has been working to strengthen its relations with NATO in recent years, along with other like-minded countries that share fundamental values such as democracy.

Although Japan is not a member of NATO, Kishida is scheduled to join its summit for the third consecutive year to demonstrate Japan's solidarity with the trans-Atlantic alliance against the backdrop of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which started in February 2022.

In a speech at the summit, Kishida is set to call upon NATO members to deepen their involvement in the Asia-Pacific region, where China has stepped up its military assertiveness and North Korea has repeatedly launched ballistic missiles, Japanese officials said.

On the sidelines of the three-day summit, which kicked off Tuesday to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the alliance, the leaders of Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and NATO are poised to meet, Kishida said.

The four nations in the Indo-Pacific region, collectively called IP4, are also arranging to hold a gathering in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will participate, he added.

The NATO summit will be held amid intensifying "information warfare." According to sources close to the matter, a large amount of false information has been spread by Russia on its war in Ukraine and by China on its military drills near Taiwan, a self-ruled democratic island Beijing claims as its own territory.

In Washington, meanwhile, Kishida said he will hold bilateral talks with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who took office last week after his Labour Party ended 14 years of Conservative rule in a general election, and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

On Friday, Kishida will travel to Berlin to meet with Scholz. They are expected to exchange views on economic security issues, including a growing concern over China's overproduction of electric vehicles, solar panels and other key products, the officials said.

Japan and Germany agreed on a wide range of cooperation during their first high-level intergovernmental talks when Scholz visited Tokyo in March 2023. In the same year, Japan ceded its status as the world's third-largest economy to Germany.

On the security front, earlier this year, the two countries signed the acquisition and cross-servicing agreement, or ACSA, which simplifies the process of sharing food, fuel and ammunition between the Japan Self-Defense Forces and the German military.

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Exclusive: Japan must strengthen NATO ties to safeguard global peace, PM says

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Japan Must Strengthen NATO Ties to Safeguard Global Peace, PM Says

Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks during a press conference at the prime minister's office in Tokyo, Japan, June 21, 2024. FRANCK ROBICHON/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

By Yukiko Toyoda, John Geddie

TOKYO (Reuters) -Russia's deepening military cooperation with North Korea has underlined the need for Japan to forge closer ties with NATO as regional security threats become increasingly intertwined, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told Reuters.

In written remarks ahead of his attendance at a NATO summit in Washington DC this week, Kishida also signalled concern over Beijing's alleged role in aiding Moscow's two-year-old war in Ukraine, although he did not name China.

"The securities of the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific are inseparable, and Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and its deepened military cooperation with North Korea are strong reminders of that," Kishida said.

"Japan is determined to strengthen its cooperation with NATO and its partners," he added.

The world, the Japanese leader said, should not tolerate attempts by some countries to disrupt the established international order and reiterated a warning that Ukraine today could be East Asia tomorrow. He also urged cooperation to confront new security threats that transcend geographical boundaries, such as cyber-attacks and conflicts in space.

South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, which along with Japan are known as the Indo-Pacific Four (IP4), are also attending the July 10-11 meeting with NATO leaders.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol told Reuters this week that he planned to discuss the threat Pyongyang poses to Europe by deepening its Russia ties.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un signed a mutual defence pledge with Russia last month during President Valdimir Putin's first visit to Pyongyang in 24 years, and expressed his "full support" for Russia's war in Ukraine.

The U.S. and its allies have accused Pyongyang of providing ballistic missiles and artillery shells that Russia has used in its war in Ukraine and say they fear Moscow in return could provide support for North Korea's nuclear missile development.

Washington has also said China is supplying drone and missile technology, satellite imagery and machine tools to Russia, items which fall short of lethal assistance but are helping Moscow build its military to sustain the Ukraine war. Beijing has said it has not provided any weaponry to any party.

Without naming China, Kishida told Reuters "some countries" have allegedly transferred dual-use civilian-military goods to Russia which has served "as a lifeline" for its Ukraine war.

"It is necessary to grapple with such situations in a multi-faceted and strategic manner, taking a panoramic view that considers the full range of international actors fuelling Russia’s attempt to change the status quo by force," he said.

"The geographical boundary of 'Euro-Atlantic' or 'Indo-Pacific' is no longer relevant in safeguarding global peace and security. Japan and Indo-Pacific partners can play a great role for NATO allies from this perspective."

Constrained by decades of pacifism, Tokyo has been reluctant to supply lethal aid to Ukraine.

It has, however, provided financial aid to Kyiv, spearheaded efforts to prepare for its post-war reconstruction, and contributed to NATO’s fund to provide Ukraine with non-lethal equipment such as anti-drone detection systems.

Tokyo has also repeatedly warned about the risks of a similar conflict emerging in East Asia, where China has been taking an increasingly muscular stance towards its territorial claims including the democratic island of Taiwan.

"This summit is a critical opportunity for Japan, the U.S., and the other NATO allies to confront the ongoing challenges against the international order and to reaffirm values and principles that have shaped global peace and prosperity," he said.

There may be limits, however, over how far NATO members are prepared to go in forging closer ties in Asia. A plan that surfaced last year for NATO to open a liaison office in Japan, its first in Asia, was blocked by France and criticised by China.

(Reporting by Yukiko Toyoda and John Geddie; Editing by Michael Perry)

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Beverly "Cookie" Grant reacts to the Fanflashtic experience, an operational replica of one constructed at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, at the Museum At Bethel Woods, Friday, June 14, 2024, in Bethel, N.Y. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson)

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Japan PM leaves for U.S., Germany for summits amid security concerns

J apanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida left for Washington on Wednesday to attend a NATO summit to confirm cooperation with the alliance in addressing the increasingly severe security challenges posed by Russia and China.

"I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm a sustainable cooperative relationship between NATO and its Indo-Pacific partners," Kishida told reporters before leaving Tokyo.

The four nations in the Indo-Pacific region, collectively called IP4, are also arranging to hold a gathering in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will participate, he added.

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Hungary's prime minister is in Beijing on a 'peace mission 3.0'

Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban (center right) talks to China's Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying (third left) after arriving in Beijing.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday, state media reported, in a visit the European leader has branded as a "peace mission 3.0" after recent trips to Moscow and Kyiv.

Orban, the friendliest EU leader toward Moscow, held talks with President Vladimir Putin on Friday about the war in Ukraine during a trip criticized by both Kyiv and the EU, which said it threatened to undermine the bloc's stance on the conflict.

Putin told Orban that Ukraine must withdraw its troops from regions that Moscow has annexed if it wants peace.

Hungary took over the European Union's rotating presidency at the start of July, and the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Orban's trip to Russia was purely a bilateral affair and he "has not received any mandate from the EU Council to visit Moscow."

In a short statement earlier, the Chinese foreign ministry said the Hungarian leader would meet Xi "for in-depth communication on issues of mutual interest."

Close to both Xi and the Kremlin, Orban has refused to send weapons to Kyiv, unlike his fellow EU leaders.

China and Russia's strategic partnership has grown closer since the invasion of Ukraine.

Beijing presents itself as a neutral party in the war and says it is not sending lethal assistance to either side, unlike the United States and other Western nations.

It has, however, offered a critical lifeline to Russia's isolated economy, with trade booming since the conflict began.

Orban was greeted at the airport by Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying, according to a photo the nationalist leader posted on social media platform X.

Major investment

Xi visited Hungary in May this year for the final leg of a European tour that also led him to France and Serbia.

Following a meeting with Orban, Xi said Beijing placed "great importance" on its relations with the EU.

Despite its small size, the Central European country of 9.6 million people has attracted a flood of major Chinese projects in recent years, mostly related to battery and electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing.

The Hungarian government boasted about having around €15 billion ($16 billion) worth of ongoing projects originating from the Asian country.

Orban has been championing an "Eastern opening" foreign policy since his return to power in 2010, seeking closer economic ties to China, Russia and other Asian countries.

Last October, the Hungarian premier was the sole EU leader to attend the summit for Xi's flagship Belt and Road initiative in Beijing.

In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

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ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden will host Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for an official visit to the United States on April 10, the White House said on Thursday.
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What, then, makes this visit stand out? According to the protocol of bilateral visits, it is Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's turn to visit Japan.
Highlights of PM Narendra Modi's Visit to Japan
May 26, 2023. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Japan from May 19 to 21, 2023 at the invitation of Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan. Additionally, he embarked on an official visit to participate in key multilateral summits such as the 49th Group of Seven (G7) and the Quad Summit in 2023. Participation in G7 Hiroshima Summit 2023:
Previewing the Japanese Official Visit and Trilateral Leaders ...
The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) hosted a call-in press briefing on April 2 to discuss the upcoming official visit of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the trilateral summit between Japan, the Philippines, and the United States.
PM Modi to visit Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia from May 19-24
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Japan, Papua New Guinea and Australia from May 19 to 24, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) announced on May 16.
PM Modi arrives in Japan on two-day visit to attend Quad summit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 23 arrived in Japan on a two-day visit to a ttend a summit of the Quad leaders which is aimed at further bolstering cooperation among the member nations of the ...
Japan PM leaves for U.S., Germany for summits amid security concerns
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida leaves for Washington to attend a NATO summit to confirm cooperation with the alliance in addressing the increasingly severe security challenges posed by Russia and China.
Prime Minister of Japan
The prime minister of Japan ( Japanese: 内閣総理大臣, Hepburn: Naikaku Sōri-Daijin) is the head of government and the highest political position of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its ministers of state. The prime minister also serves as the commander-in-chief of the Japan ...
List of prime ministers of Japan
The prime minister of Japan is the country's head of government and the leader of the Cabinet. This is a list of prime ministers of Japan, from when the first Japanese prime minister (in the modern sense), Itō Hirobumi, took office in 1885, until the present day.
Exclusive: Japan must strengthen NATO ties to safeguard global peace
Russia's deepening military cooperation with North Korea has underlined the need for Japan to forge closer ties with NATO as regional security threats become increasingly intertwined, Prime ...
Press Conference by Prime Minister Kishida regarding His Upcoming
(On the significance of Prime Minister Kishida's upcoming attendance at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit and his expectations for the summit outcomes; on an upcoming summit meeting with UK Prime Minister Starmer and on the fields in which Mr. Kishida aims to strengthen cooperation with Chancellor Scholz during his visit to ...
Yes, Everyone Really Is Traveling to Japan Right Now
Why It Feels Like Everyone in the World Is Heading to Japan Right Now. Cheap yen, global travel recovery spark historic tourism boom; ... June 28, 2024 at 7:00 PM EDT. Save.
Exclusive-Japan Must Strengthen NATO Ties to Safeguard Global Peace, PM
Exclusive-Japan Must Strengthen NATO Ties to Safeguard Global Peace, PM Says By Yukiko Toyoda and John Geddie TOKYO (Reuters) - Russia's deepening military cooperation with North Korea has ...
Japan, Korea, New Zealand leaders attend summit as NATO's vision
Japan, Korea, New Zealand leaders attend summit as NATO's vision expands Chinese, North Korean links to Ukraine war draw Asian allies to gathering
Japan PM leaves for U.S., Germany for summits amid security concerns
During his five-day overseas trip through Sunday, Kishida is also slated to visit Germany for talks with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, with economic security likely to top the agenda.
Hungary's prime minister is in Beijing on a 'peace mission 3.0'
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's unannounced visit to China comes a day before NATO is due to hold a summit to mark its 75th anniversary.

Biden and Kishida Agree to Tighten Military and Economic Ties to Counter China

Biden Hosts Japan’s Prime Minister at the White House

Inside the Biden Administration

What’s expected at Japanese PM Kishida’s US visit? A major upgrade in defense ties

WHAT DOES KISHIDA WANT TO ACHIEVE?

WHAT IS A STATE VISIT?

WHY THE DEFENSE FOCUS?

WHAT ARE THE SUMMIT’S MAIN ISSUES?

WHAT’S JAPAN’S DEFENSE AIM?

WHAT ABOUT THE SUMMIT WITH THE PHILIPPINES?

WHAT HAPPENS IN NORTH CAROLINA?

What to expect from Japanese Prime Minister Kishida’s U.S. visit

What does Kishida want to achieve?

What is a state visit?

Why the defense focus?

What are the summit’s main issue?

What’s Japan’s defense aim?

What about the summit with the Philippines?

What happens in North Carolina?

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Press Conference by Prime Minister Kishida regarding His Upcoming Attendance at the NATO Summit and Visit to Germany

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