JAPAN, U.S. UNITED ON CHINA
They vow to stand firm together against assertive China, step up cooperation
THE United States and Japan vowed on Friday to stand firm together against an assertive China and to step up cooperation on climate change and next-generation technology as US President Joe Biden made his first summit a show of alliance unity.
After waiting nearly three months for his first foreign guest due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Biden told Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga that Japan enjoyed the US’ “iron-clad support” on security issues and beyond.
“We’re going to work together to prove that democracies can still compete and win in the 21st century,” Biden, affectionately calling the Japanese leader “Yoshi”, told a news conference at the White House Rose Garden.
A joint statement called for “candid conversations” with China and did not hold back, raising concerns over Beijing’s growing maritime moves, its clampdowns in Hong Kong and Xinjiang and growing tension over Taiwan.
The statement reiterated that the US-Japan Security Treaty covers the Japanese-administered Senkaku islands — one of several areas in the region where Beijing, which calls them the Diaoyu, has increasingly shown its might.
The US and Japan “recognise the importance of deterrence to maintain peace and stability in the region”, the statement said.
“We oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East China Sea,” read one line highlighted by Suga.
The Chinese embassy in the US hit back yesterday, expressing “strong concern and firm opposition” to the comments.
“It cannot be more ironic that such an attempt at stoking division and building blocs against other countries is put under the banner of ‘free and open’,” a statement by the embassy said, referring to a US pledge to build a “free and open” Indo-Pacific region.
Biden and Suga also emphasised “the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait” and encouraged “the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues”, as Beijing steps up air incursions in Taiwan.