With eye on China, Biden-Kishida meeting to set ‘remarkable’ outcomes: insiders
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US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will unveil nearly six dozen "deliverables" in security, economic, and people-to-people areas. The summit aims to further cement the partnership between the US and Japan as tensions rise in the Indo-Pacific region due to China's increasingly muscular stance. The outcomes of the meeting are expected to be on a "remarkable" scale, with the largest number of substantial deliverables seen so far. The deliverables will include reorganizing and integrating the two militaries, joint operating command structures, space cooperation agreements, and people-to-people announcements. The leaders will also discuss the merits of prioritizing a latticework of groupings to deter China. US officials expressed confidence that the partnerships under the Indo-Pacific strategy will withstand the test of time, even if Biden loses his re-election bid. The summit will be followed by a trilateral summit with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr to bolster Indo-Pacific economic and security agreements. Japanese Prime Minister Kishida will also address a joint meeting of Congress, becoming the second Japanese leader to do so. The US-Japan alliance was briefly strained by Biden's rejection of a US$41 billion takeover bid by Nippon Steel for US Steel on national security grounds. However, officials emphasized the deep and significant relationship between the two countries. The US has been focusing on the Pacific to counter China's rising economic and military might. China has expanded its island building activity in the South China Sea and challenged US freedom of navigation flights and voyages. The US has organized various groupings and alliances in the region, including the Quad, the Japan-South Korea-US trilateral, the Aukus alliance, and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. The trilateral summit with the Philippines aims to show support for the country as it faces pressure from China in the South China Sea. The US-Philippine mutual defense treaty applies to the Philippines in the South China Sea, and the US stands strongly by its alliance commitments to the Philippines.
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