The two nations, following a meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, also cited “provocations” by North Korea in a joint statement issued by the White House.
The United States and Japan on Friday reiterated the importance of peace and stability in Taiwan Strait and warned against any use of a nuclear weapon by Russia in Ukraine.
The two nations, following a meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, also cited “provocations” by North Korea in a joint statement issued by the White House.
“We strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion, anywhere in the world,” the statement said.
The two administrations were also ready to seal an agreement to bolster U.S.-Japanese cooperation on space with a signing ceremony by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa.
The Oval Office meeting and signing ceremony at NASA’s Washington headquarters will cap a weeklong tour for Kishida that took him to five European and North American capitals for talks on his effort to beef up Japan’s security.
Biden welcomed Kishida to the White House on Friday morning for the prime minister’s first visit to Washington since he took office in October 2021. Inside the Oval Office, the U.S. president praised Japan for its “historic” increase in defense spending and pledged close cooperation on economic and security matters.
“We meet at a remarkable moment,” Biden told Kishida, adding later, “The more difficult job is trying to figure out how and where we disagree.”
Kishida, speaking through an interpreter, said the two nations “share fundamental values such as democracy and the rule of law” and stressed that their joint role on the global stage “is becoming even greater.”
Blinken said this week that the U.S.-Japan space cooperation framework was a “decade in the making” and “covers everything from joint research to working together to land the first woman and person of color on the moon.”
He added that the U.S. and Japan agree that China is their “greatest shared strategic challenge” and confirmed that an attack in space would trigger a mutual defense provision in the U.S.-Japan security treaty.
The leaders discussed Japan’s push to step up defense spending and coordination that comes as concerns grow that China could take military action to seize Taiwan and that North Korea’s spike in missile testing could augur the isolated nation’s achieving its nuclear ambitions.
Biden and Kishida also discussed intrusions by China’s military vessels into Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The uninhabited islets are controlled by Japan but claimed by China, which calls them Diaoyu.
With Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, he cemented Japan’s first defense agreement with a European nation, one that allows for the two countries to hold joint military exercises.
Kishida also discussed with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and French President Emmanuel Macron his hopes to improve security cooperation between Japan and their respective nations. Germany was the lone G-7 country not on Kishida’s itinerary.
Japan last month announced plans to buy U.S.-made Tomahawks and other long-range cruise missiles that can hit targets in China or North Korea under a more offensive security strategy, while Japan, Britain and Italy unveiled plans to collaborate on a next-generation jet fighter project.
Biden administration officials have praised Japan for stepping up in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Japan was quick to join the U.S. and other Western allies in mounting aggressive sanctions on Moscow, and Japanese automakers Mazda, Toyota and Nissan announced their withdrawal from Russia.
The White House has made the case that China is paying close attention to international efforts to coalesce behind Ukraine as it weighs action on Taiwan. The Biden administration officials have been pleasantly surprised by Japan’s intensified effort to reconsider its security.
Biden had been expected to raise the case of Lt. Ridge Alkonis, a U.S. Navy officer deployed to Japan who was jailed after pleading guilty last year to the negligent driving deaths of two Japanese citizens in May 2021.
Alkonis’ family says he suddenly fell unconscious behind the wheel during a family trip on Mt. Fuji. He veered into parked cars and pedestrians in a parking lot, striking an elderly woman and her son-in-law, both of whom later died.
The official added that the Biden administration was working “to find a compassionate resolution that’s consistent with the rule of law.” Neither Biden nor Kishida responded to shouted questions about Alkonis at the White House, and outside its gates, about two dozen demonstrators called for Alkonis’ release.
Kishida met with Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday before his meeting with Biden.
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