WNAM Monitoring: U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will have a summit over the bilateral alliance, trilateral cooperation with South Korea and other issues in Washington in April, the White House said Thursday.
Biden and first lady Jill Biden will host Kishida and first lady Yuko Kishida for an official visit to the United States, which will include a state dinner, on April 10, Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
“The visit will underscore the enduring strength of our alliance partnership, the unwavering U.S. commitment to Japan, and Japan’s increasing global leadership role,” she said.
“President Biden and Prime Minister Kishida will discuss efforts to strengthen our political, security, economic, and people-to-people ties so that our alliance is postured to address evolving challenges and advance our shared vision for a free, open, secure, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region and world,” she added.
In a press briefing, John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, noted that the agenda for the meeting between Biden and Kishida would include efforts to enhance three-way cooperation with South Korea.
“I think you can expect to see a robust discussion about how we are deepening our bilateral cooperation with Japan and improving our alliance capabilities across the board and also how we are working together across a range of other threats and challenges in the Indo-Pacific,” he said. “That also includes, you know, improving trilateral cooperation with South Korea as well.”
The meeting has been arranged as Seoul, Washington and Tokyo have been stepping up security coordination to deal with North Korea’s evolving threats and its deepening military cooperation with Russia.
