What's expected at Japanese PM Kishida's US visit? A major upgrade in defense ties
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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 to achieve a major upgrading of their defense alliance. 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. Expanding arms equipment and technology cooperation between the two countries and other like-minded partners is also highly important. Defense tops the agenda because of growing worries about threats from China, North Korea, and Russia. Biden and Kishida are expected to agree on a plan to modernize their military command structures. Japan’s possible participation in a U.S.-U.K.-Australia security partnership and its contribution to NASA’s Artemis moon program may also come up. 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. Kishida also wants to highlight Japan’s economic contributions in the U.S. He will meet with business leaders and visit Toyota’s electric vehicle battery factory and Honda’s business jet subsidiary in North Carolina.
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