The military, commercial and cultural alliance between the United States and Japan is stronger than ever today. The mutual interest in containing China's influence in Asia and around the world is the main driver of their strategic union, and this was highlighted this Wednesday by President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in their first official visit to Washington. "The international order is at a turning point in history," said the Japanese leader after a two-hour meeting in the Oval Office, which followed a reception with military honors in the gardens of the White House. In this context, "the partnership between Japan and the US is indispensable" for the world to "enjoy peace, stability and prosperity."
In a joint press conference, Biden and Kishida announced a new military agreement: for the first time, Japan, the US and Australia will create a network for air missile defense, although they did not give more details. In addition, the US will restructure its military command in Japan in order to "strengthen security cooperation, modernize command structures and increase the interoperability and planning of our armies so that they can work fluidly and effectively," he announced. Biden: "It will be the most significant improvement of our alliance since it was established" in 1960. The US ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, has described the meeting as "the first chapter of the new era" of the alliance between both countries.
Biden has noted that "over the past three years, our partnership has transformed into a truly global alliance" thanks in part to Kishida's "leadership." Since coming to power in 2021, the prime minister has stepped up Japanese defense policy and approved measures to increase its budget from 1% of GDP to 2% in five years. He is realizing the goal of his predecessor, Shinzo Abe, to return Japan to an active role on the international stage. Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the prime minister has warned that the lack of a forceful response could embolden China to attack Taiwan, creating a security crisis in the East Asian region.
Tokyo has participated in Western sanctions against Russia and, last year, Kishida visited kyiv and Bucha, where he could see the "cruelty" of the Russian war of attrition, as he recalled. "Unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion are absolutely unacceptable, wherever they occur, and we will continue to respond through cooperation alongside our allies," Kishida said.
The Biden administration fears that a Donald Trump victory in November would put a brake on the alliance with Japan and other regional allies, as well as on foreign aid to Ukraine. The announcement of more military cooperation seeks to create the foundations of a lasting alliance with Tokyo, which resists the unpredictability of a possible Republican mandate.
The conversation will continue tomorrow with a trilateral summit in which the president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., will also participate. In recent weeks, China has increased its pressure and intensified military maneuvers in the Japanese Senkaku Islands as well as in the Sea of Southern China, where it has open territorial disputes with five countries. The Asian giant considers a large part of this sea – rich in gas, oil and fish, and an important passage for maritime trade – as part of its historical territory, despite United Nations resolutions that deny its claim.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982), signed by China and 167 other states, specifies that the sovereign territory of a coastal country extends 12 miles beyond its coast, while the Exclusive Economic Zone comprises 200 miles. and grants exclusive rights to exploit its resources. To reclaim its sovereignty and increase its influence over the sea, China has been building artificial islets for years, with the condemnation of neighboring countries and the United States.
During this Wednesday's meeting, Biden and Kishida made progress on other issues on the bilateral agenda, such as cooperation in technology, in the development of artificial intelligence or in outer space. Biden has announced that "two Japanese astronauts will join future US missions, and one of them will become the first non-American to land on the moon."
The bilateral trade relationship, which is in good health, was also on the menu: Japan is the main foreign investor in the US – its investment of $775 billion in 2022 constituted 15% of foreign direct investment in the country. , followed by Canada, the United Kingdom and Germany. The Japanese Prime Minister will visit the Toyota and Honda plants in North Carolina. Last year, Toyota began the construction of an electric battery production plant, which represents an investment of 8 billion and that "will employ thousands of people," Biden recalled.
However, according to the White House, the two presidents have not addressed a recent controversy in their business relationship, the acquisition of the metal company US Steel by the Japanese company Nippon Steel, which has sparked protests among congressmen of both parties and the union. United Steelworkers.
Kishida spent part of his childhood in New York and studied for three years at a school in Queens. Every summer, he went on vacation to Hiroshima, his mother's homeland, and came into contact with the stories of the survivors of the nuclear bomb dropped by the United States on August 6, 1945. Relations between the two countries are now in trouble. the antipodes of that turning point in history, while the world order falters again eight decades later.
"Just a few generations ago, our two nations were immersed in a devastating conflict," Biden said after witnessing with Kishida a military procession reserved for state visits by close allies. "It would have been easy to say that we remained adversaries. Instead, we made a much better decision: we became the closest of friends." Tonight, the president and first lady Jill Biden invited Kishida and his wife Yuko to a state dinner at the presidential residence, the first for a Japanese prime minister in nine years.
