Biden welcomes prime ministe, praises growing clout
WASHINGTON >> President Joe Biden hailed Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for bold leadership as he welcomed the Japanese leader to the White House on Wednesday for talks on the delicate security situation in the Pacific and for a glitzy state dinner.
Kishida’s official visit completes the administration’s feting of the leaders of the Quad, the informal partnership among the U.S., Japan, Australia and India that the White House has focused on elevating since Biden took office. As administration officials put it, they saved the most pivotal relationship for last.
“The unbreakable alliance between Japan and the United States is the cornerstone of peace, security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and around the world,” Biden said as he welcomed Kishida to a pomp-filled arrival ceremony on the White House South Lawn.
The visit also marks the realization of Japan’s transformation from regional player to that of global influencer — with senior Biden administration officials noting appreciatively there is little the U.S. does across the globe that Tokyo doesn’t support. They pointed to Japan’s eagerness to take a leading role in trying to bolster Ukraine against Russia’s invasion and with the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“The cooperation between our countries bound together by common values and commitment has become a global one with the scope and depth covering outer space and the deep sea,” Kishida said. “Today the world faces more challenges and difficulties than ever before. Japan will join hands with our American friends and together we will lead the way in tackling the challenges of the Indo-Pacific region and the world, while tirelessly developing the relationship.”
Biden and Kishida are both confronting difficult political headwinds on the home front while trying to navigate increasingly complicated problems on the global stage. Like Biden, Kishida has been dogged by low approval ratings for much of his tenure.
Biden’s reelection effort has been shadowed by an American electorate anxious about inflation, unease among some Democrats over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war, and concerns about whether at 81 he’s too old to serve another four years. Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
The U.S. economy got another blip of dour data on Wednesday with the government reporting that consumer inflation ticked up last month, boosted by gas, rents, auto insurance and other items.
Kishida, meanwhile, is dealing with a Japanese economy that slipped to the world’s fourth-largest after it contracted in the last quarter of 2023 and fell behind Germany. Polls in Japan show that support for Kishida, who was elected in 2021, has plunged as he deals with a political funds corruption scandal within his ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
“For President Biden, this is, of course, a chance to highlight and cement progress in the relationship, the most important bilateral alliance in the Indo-Pacific. It’s a chance to sustain urgency and momentum in this relationship,” said Christopher Johnstone, a former national security official in the Biden administration who is now the Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “For Kishida, it’s a chance to showcase his ties to the U.S., to prop up support at home.”
There are differences in the U.S.-Japan relationship.
The visit comes after Biden announced last month that he opposes the planned sale of Pittsburghbased U.S. Steel to Nippon Steel of Japan. Biden argued in announcing his opposition that the U.S. needs to “maintain strong American steel companies powered by American steelworkers.”
The leaders were holding Oval Office talks and a joint press conference before the formal dinner, which will include a post-meal performance by singer-songwriter Paul Simon, a favorite of both Kishida and first lady Jill Biden.
The Bidens hosted Kishida and his wife for dinner Tuesday evening, taking the couple to BlackSalt, a seafood restaurant in a tony neighborhood in the nation’s capital.
The Bidens presented Kishida with a three-legged table handmade by a Japanese American-owned company in Pennsylvania. The president also gave Kishida a custom-framed lithograph and a two-volume LP set autographed by Billy Joel.
Jill Biden gave Yuko Kishida a soccer ball signed by the U.S. women’s national team and the Japanese women’s national team.
Kishida gave Biden Wajima-Nuri lacquerware coffee cups as well as pens and Okinawan coffee beans.
Yuko Kishida gifted Jill Biden a matching Takaoka copperware necklace, bracelet and earrings. The visitors gave the Bidens Nintendo items, including a stuffed Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach and Yoshi.
The leaders were expected to announce plans to upgrade U.S.-Japan military relations, with both sides looking to tighten cooperation amid concerns about North Korea’s nuclear program and China’s increasing military assertiveness in the Pacific.
Kishida and Biden are also expected to confirm Japan’s participation in NASA’s Artemis moon program as well as its contribution of a moon rover developed by Toyota Motor Corp., and the inclusion of a Japanese astronaut in the mission. The leaders are also expected to announce artificial intelligence and semiconductor initiatives as well as new educational partnerships, according to administration officials.
Biden heaped praise on Japan for its significant increase in defense spending and has tightened cooperation on economic and security matters throughout Kishida’s tenure.