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President Biden and first lady Jill Biden formally welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife to the White House on Wednesday for a state visit focused on bolstering the two nations’ commitment to combating Chinese aggression.
The arrival of Mr. Kishida and his wife, Yuko Kishida, included all the usual White House pomp and circumstance reserved for a foreign leader’s state visit, including honor guards, marching bands and a multi-gun salute on the South Lawn.
Mr. Biden hailed Mr. Kishida as a “visionary and courageous leader.”
“The alliance between Japan and the United States is the cornerstone of peace, security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and around the world. Ours is truly a global partnership,” he said.
Mr. Kishida compared the U.S.-Japan alliance to a cherry tree, saying it grows thicker and stronger through the years.
“The friendship between Japan and the United States will continue to grow and move around the world, thriving on friendship, respect and trust of the people of both countries,” he said.
The arrival ceremony was to be followed by an Oval Office meeting and a joint press conference with journalists from both nations. The Kishidas will later join the Bidens for a lavish state dinner at the White House.
After the South Lawn ceremony, the leaders met in the Oval Office while Ms. Biden hosted Ms. Kishida for a spousal event.
Later this week, Mr. Kishida and Mr. Biden will attend the first leaders summit among the U.S., Japan and the Philippines to counter China’s military and economic aggression.
Mr. Biden and Mr. Kishida have an array of topics in their face-to-face meeting. At the top of the list is the largest structural upgrade for the U.S.-Japan security alliance in decades.
The two leaders will focus on establishing a military-industrial council to determine how Japan and the U.S. can produce defense weapons to improve cooperation and anti-missile defenses along with Australia.
About 54,000 U.S. troops are in Japan, but under the old system, major decisions have been made in coordination with the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command thousands of miles away in Hawaii. The new structure has Japan with a joint operational command for self-defense.
Mr. Biden and Mr. Kishida will also discuss space collaboration, as Japan has sought to land its first astronaut on the moon and increase student exchanges between the two countries.
“Now our two countries are building a stronger defense partnership and a stronger Indo-Pacific like never before,” the president said.
All of the meeting’s agenda items are part of a joint military, diplomatic and strategic effort to counter China’s push to isolate nations in the Indo-Pacific, like the Philippines.
Japan has been the cornerstone of Mr. Biden’s plan to have allies in the region step up to better combat China’s growing economic and military influence.
Mr. Kishida has appeared happy to go along with the plan, committing to increase his country’s defense spending by 2% of its gross domestic product by 2037 and purchasing American-made Tomahawk missiles to bolster Japan’s counterstrike capabilities.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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