Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s Prime Minister, is scheduled to travel to the United States (U.S.) on Thursday, 15 April 2021, for talks with President Joe Biden amid the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and tensions with China.
Suga is due to speak with Biden at the White House on Friday, 16 April 2021, becoming the first foreign official to meet in person with the newly inaugurated U.S. president.
The two leaders seek to highlight Japan’s and the United States’ close relations.
Tokyo however, praised the coalition and its contribution to the Indo-Pacific region.
According to the Japanese government, Suga and Biden would discuss climate change, the pandemic, China and North Korea problems, and Indo-Pacific cooperation.
“Through cooperation with like-minded nations, Japan would strategically advance policies that secure the free and open Indo-Pacific.
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“A solid Japan is a condition for a well-functioning relationship with the United States, as well as the basis for Indo-Pacific stability and prosperity,” Suga wrote in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece ahead of his departure.
Last month, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin travelled to Japan for the first time to meet with their Japanese counterparts, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi.
The four ministers reiterated their objections to China’s “unlawful maritime assertions and activities” in the South China Sea and expressed concern about the human rights situation in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, China’s western region home to the Uighur ethnic minority.
Tokyo is concerned about a recent Chinese regulation that requires Beijing’s coastguard to fire cannons on foreign ships.
for the past two months, Chinese coastguard warships have been seen near a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea.
The Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands have also been claimed by China and Taiwan, which call them Diaoyu and Tiaoyutai, respectively.
