HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) – President Joe Biden will open his visit Thursday to a Japan that has strengthened its economic and national security alliance with the U.S. by meeting privately with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ahead of the summit great of the Group of Seven.
Hiroshima, Kishida’s hometown, will host the meeting of the major industrialized nations. The scene of Hiroshima, where the US dropped the first nuclear bomb in 1945 during World War II, has new resonance as the US, Japan and their allies strategize for the ongoing war from Russia to Ukraine.
Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, said the Russian invasion loomed large and would be an important conversation during the summit.
“There will be discussions on the battlefield,” Sullivan said aboard Air Force One, stressing that G-7 leaders would work to seal any gaps in sanctions so their effect can be maximized.
“There will be discussions about the state of play on sanctions and the steps that the G-7 will collectively commit to on particular enforcement.”
Sullivan said the US-Japan alliance was at a “real watershed.”
He said that Biden and Kishida, in their meeting, will aim to advance a relationship that has progressed over the past two years “in all dimensions, whether it is the military dimension of the alliance, the economic dimension, the recently concluded agreement on cleanup”. energy, the work we are doing together in economic security”.
Last year, Biden came to Tokyo to discuss the Indo-Pacific strategy and launch a new trade framework for the region, with the US president and Kishida participating in an 85-minute tea ceremony and a seafood dinner
Kishida was quick to denounce the risks of nuclear Russia invading Ukraine in 2022, saying then: “Ukraine today could be East Asia tomorrow.”
China has declared unlimited friendship with Russia, increasing trade in a way that has reduced the ability of financial sanctions to limit war. But the US and its allies say China has yet to send military equipment to Russia, a sign that the friendship may have some limits.
Biden and Kishida also have economic issues to consider. The United States and Japan have begun to redefine global trade with an eye toward supply chain resilience and national security. They recently signed an agreement on supply chains for critical minerals. They also collaborate on the development of renewable energy sources and collaborate in efforts to limit China’s access to advanced computer chips.
Kishida hopes to discuss further strengthening of deterrence and responsiveness with Biden in the face of China’s assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as confirming the importance of the Taiwan Strait to peace and stability. global stability. China has asserted that Taiwan’s self-rule should come under its rule. US officials have been briefed on the potential economic damage caused by a war on Taiwan, which would disrupt the supply of advanced computer chips.
Japan is also keen to discuss ways to strengthen its trilateral partnership with the US and Seoul following an April agreement between the US and South Korea to strengthen their tools to deter the risk of an attack nuclear North Korea.
Kishida and Biden will hold a trilateral summit with South Korea’s Yoon Suk Yeol on the sidelines of the G-7 summit. But Kishida is in a tricky position to discuss efforts to respond to North Korea’s nuclear threats with Japan’s history of also calling for a world free of nuclear weapons, said Kan Kimura, a professor at Kobe University and expert in South Korea.
In the wake of World War II, Japan embraced pacifism. The atomic bomb burned Hiroshima, killing 140,000 people and destroying most of the city’s buildings in the river delta. But current conditions are testing Japan’s pacifism and anti-nuclear weapons tradition.
“Kishida is from Hiroshima, he believes deeply in the disarmament agenda,” said Christopher Johnstone, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. “Of course, Kishida is walking a fine line. He recognizes the need for the nuclear umbrella, Japan’s reliance on America’s extended deterrence — that’s more vital than ever, frankly, in today’s security environment.”
There are pending issues between the US and China. During a January meeting with Kishida, Biden brought up the case of Lt. Ridge Alkonis, a U.S. Navy officer deployed to Japan who was sentenced to three years in prison last year after pleading guilty to death by careless driving of two Japanese citizens in May 2021. , according to a senior administration official. Alkonis also agreed to pay the victims $1.65 million in restitution. His family is calling for his release, saying he was detained until he confessed.
As much as Biden believes he has improved relations with America’s allies, he still faces political problems at home. The president on Wednesday restricted part of his trip across the Pacific Ocean. He will skip Papua New Guinea and Australia to return to Washington in hopes of finalizing a deal to raise the federal government’s debt limit.
“The work we need to do bilaterally with Australia and with the Pacific Islands is work that can be done at a later date, while the final stretch of negotiations on the debt limit or the budget cannot be done at one later date,” Sullivan. he said on Wednesday.
