Biden, Kishida meet: To announce steps to raise US-Japan ties to new level

US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are all set to meet at the White House on Friday, which the administration officials indicated would take bilateral alliance to an altogether new level.

Being held a day after the two countries announced plans to expand their security alliance to space, the meeting is being held against the backdrop of an aggressive China posing threat to regional and global security architecture, one that has forced Tokyo to massively expand its defence spending.

"From our perspective, the message is absolutely clear. Japan is stepping up and doing so in lockstep with the United States. Our investment in our alliances is paying huge dividends and we look forward to celebrating that tomorrow," John Kirby, Coordinator for Strategic Communications at the National Security Council in the White House, told reporters at a news conference here on Thursday.

 

Kishida arrives in Washington after a set of extensive discussions with European partners from Italy to the United Kingdom, France and Canada. Kirby hoped that the two leaders going to have the opportunity to debrief on those discussions as well.

"We modernize the alliance by announcing that attacks too from and within space could lead to the invocation of Article 5 of the US-Japan Security Treaty. Expanding bilateral exercises between our two countries in training, which includes Japan's Southwest islands," Kirby said.

"And of course, deepening cooperation in the region to include trilateral training and exercises with Australia and increasing cooperation with the Republic of Korea on ballistic missile defense, anti-submarine warfare and maritime security," he told reporters at a White House news conference.

"All these moves are not only going to strengthen our combined ability to defend Japan, but also will allow the United States and Japan together to provide for the peace and security in the Indo-Pacific region and bolster deterrence in the region and globally," he said.

"I do think that tomorrow will also give President Biden an opportunity to discuss with Prime Minister Kishida progress that we're going to be able to make together in this coming year on a range of national security and economic issues. Japan holds the G-7 presidency," he said.

Japan has just taken a seat on the UN Security Council. "And while we're going to be hosting the APEC this year as well as seeking to make swift progress on the Indo-Pacific economic framework, there's a lot of overlap there and we're looking forward to that. We'll discuss how we're going to align these agendas going forward," Kirby said.

Last month, Kishida released Japan's new national security strategy and committed to boosting Japan's defence spending to two per cent of their GDP, and that includes investments in new defence capabilities. "That's a historic commitment by Japan," he said.