WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will host Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga at the White House Friday, his first in-person meeting with a world leader since taking office.
Biden’s decision to host Suga for his first face-to-face meeting highlights his administration’s focus on strengthening ties with allies in Asia as the U.S. works to counter an increasingly assertive China.
Suga is expected to begin the day meeting with Vice President Kamala Harris at the Naval Observatory. He will later meet privately with Biden at the White House, followed by larger meetings with senior administration officials and Cabinet members.
A senior administration official said they anticipated a number of issues related to China to come up at Friday’s meetings, including China’s actions in the Taiwan Strait and human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
Despite pressure to confront China more directly, Japan is in a precarious position due to its economic ties and close proximity to China.
April 13, 202100:35
“Neither country is seeking to raise tension or provoke China, but at the same time we’re trying to send a clear signal,” the official said. “We also recognize the deep economic and commercial ties between Japan and China, and Prime Minister Suga wants to walk a careful course, and we respect that.”
The White House on Thursday announced that Biden’s second in-person meeting would be with South Korean President Moon Jae-in late next month in Washington, further signaling the president’s commitment to shoring up alliances in the region. Biden’s secretaries of state and defense visited Japan and South Korea in their first trips abroad last month.
North Korea is also likely to be high on Friday’s agenda list. Leader Kim Jong Un test-fired two ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan last month, after launching two smaller missile tests shortly before. Biden condemned the second ballistic missile launches, which were in violation of a United Nations resolution.
The administration official said that Biden would also prioritize discussing Japan’s strained relationship with South Korea. The Japanese government this week decided to start releasing treated radioactive water from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean in two years, which South Korea criticized and promised to fight.
“It is concerning to us, even to the point of being painful for us, to see relations between Japan and South Korea fall to the current level. The political tensions are such that we believe it actually impedes all of our abilities to be effective in North East Asia,” the official said.
This year’s Summer Olympics in Tokyo are also likely to come up as doubt rises over whether Japan can safely hold the games in the midst of a fourth wave of coronavirus infections. But Biden is unlikely to pressure Suga to cancel the games, which were postponed from last year. The senior administration official said, “At a fundamental level, the president is very sympathetic, loves sports.”
The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade, climate change, the pandemic, supply chains, 5G technology, among other topics.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
