4 Jan. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The White House has confirmed this Tuesday that the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, will visit Washington on January 13, where he will meet with the US President, Joe Biden, as some Japanese media had anticipated.
The White House spokeswoman, Karine Jean-Pierre, has announced that Biden “is looking forward to welcoming” the Japanese prime minister, in what will be the first summit between the two countries in the US presidential office since Kishida came to government.
Jean-Pierre explained that this meeting seeks to “further deepen the ties between our governments, economies and our people,” according to a statement.
Biden and Kishida “will be inspired” by their past efforts, such as “close collaboration to modernize” bilateral relations or expand cooperation on issues such as climate change or the commitment to “a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
They will also analyze “a variety of regional and global issues”, among which the White House highlights tensions over North Korean military programs, the war in Ukraine or stability in the Taiwan Strait.
The US president “will reiterate his full support for Japan’s National Security Strategy”, which represents a historic turn in the limited national policy of national “self-defense” by enabling Japanese forces to launch counterattacks outside its borders, and which It has received criticism from the opposition and from parts of society.
The substantial increase in defense spending, which Kishida plans to explain to Biden, also seeks to deepen the alliance between the countries, according to government sources told ‘Yomiuri Shumbun’.
