Prime Minister Shinzo Abe embarks on a seven-day tour of the United States this week, the highlight of which is a summit with President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday.

The meeting has taken on added importance for the two leaders as their countries engage in a power game to keep a rising China in check, according to Fumiaki Kubo, professor at the University of Tokyo and a noted expert on contemporary American politics.

Japan and the United States are now the only major countries that have yet to express readiness to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, which China is setting up to expand its economic clout in the Asia-Pacific region.