The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)
White House hosts Japan’s Kishida amid US bid to counter China’s rising power
US PRESIDENT Joe Biden welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to the White House on Wednesday, as the two seek to showcase a strong and growing partnership focused on joint defense cooperation to deter an aggressive China.
“I would assert that our alliance has never been stronger in our entire history,” Biden said as the two leaders began their talks in the Oval Office.
Japan, often described as the US'S most important Asia ally and its largest source of foreign direct investment, is expected to take on a stepped-up role after a series of security law changes in the past decade have transformed its pacifist constitution.
"Ours is truly a global partnership. For that, Mr. Prime Minister Kishida, I thank you," Biden said. "Now our two countries are building a stronger defense partnership and a strong Indo-pacific than ever before.”
"As a global partner, japan will join hands with our American friends and together we will lead the way in tack ling the challenges of the in do-pacific and the world ," Kishida said. Kishida will address the US Congress Thursday and join Biden and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr for a meeting to focus on Beijing's South China Sea incursions.
The US and Japan have hammered out about 70 agreements on defence cooperation, including moves to upgrade the US military command structure in Japan to make it better able to work with Japanese forces in a crisis. They will announce plans for a joint lunar space mission and works on artificial intelligence res ear ch,u.s. officials said.