2024-04-10 09:58:13
Joe Biden receives Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House on Wednesday for a state visit focused on strengthening defense ties between the two Pacific countries in the face of China’s ambitions.
Fumio Kishida’s arrival at the White House will first be marked by a musical welcome performed by military bands, then a meeting in the Oval Office, a joint press conference, and finally a dinner gala.
The 66-year-old Prime Minister, accompanied by his wife Yuko, is the first Japanese leader to receive the honors of a state visit to Washington since Shinzo Abe in 2015.
Ahead of the official start of the state visit, the Kishida couple were first welcomed at the White House on Tuesday.
Joe Biden’s wife, Jill, said the visit would “celebrate the thriving friendship between the United States and Japan.”
Above all, it underlines the importance placed by the American president in strengthening alliances against countries such as China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, in an increasingly uncertain world.
The two leaders are due to give a joint press conference in the White House’s famous Rose Garden at 12:30 p.m. (4:30 p.m. GMT), during which they will discuss their growing ties.
“We will consider this to be an exceptional and historic summit,” a senior US administration official told the press before the visit.
According to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, Joe Biden and Fumio Kishida “will announce measures to improve security cooperation, in order to enable greater coordination and integration of our armed forces.”
The leaders are expected to unveil a plan to restructure the American military command in Japan, with some 54,000 soldiers, for what will constitute the most significant strengthening of the defense partnership between the two countries since the 1960s.
The goal: to make their armed forces more agile in the event of a crisis, particularly in the event of an invasion of Taiwan by Beijing, according to experts.
Trilateral summit
The two countries could also agree on the possibility for American military ships to carry out repairs in private shipyards in Japan, and on the joint production of military equipment, according to several media.
Firmly pacifist for several decades, Japan has made changes in its defense policy in recent years “among the most significant and considerable” since the Second World War, said the United States Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, in ahead of the state visit.
Wednesday evening the Kishida couple will be invited to a dinner in a White House reception room decorated with fans and branches of cherry blossoms. Then the musician Paul Simon, former member of the legendary folk rock group Simon & Garfunkel, “will perform a selection of his emblematic songs”, the White House services announced.
On Thursday, Fumio Kishida must address both houses of the American Congress before being received again by Joe Biden, alongside Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos (son and namesake of the former dictator).
On that day, the American president will organize the first trilateral summit between Japan, the Philippines, and the United States.
Fumio Kishida and Ferdinand Marcos are the latest Asian leaders to be welcomed by Joe Biden, after the summit at Camp David in August with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, and already Fumio Kishida.
The only potential downside to the Japanese Prime Minister’s visit: the controversy surrounding the announced acquisition of the American steel giant US Steel by the Japanese Nippon Steel will surely hover over the meeting with Joe Biden.
The Democratic president is in fact opposed to this operation, which could play a role in his re-election campaign against his protectionist predecessor, Donald Trump.
But U.S. officials said they should not discuss the deal with Nippon Steel, focusing instead on announcing a series of deals under a well-tuned protocol.
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