Just weeks after revamping Japan’s defense strategy, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will meet U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington on Friday to “set the course” for the alliance this year as the two sides seek to expand military, economic and technological cooperation.
The visit, Kishida’s first to the U.S. capital since taking office in October 2021, will mark the final leg of a five-country tour that has already seen the prime minister visit France. The prime minister will also hold talks with his counterparts in Italy, the United Kingdom and Canada as Japan prepares to host a Group of Seven summit scheduled for May 19 to 21 in Hiroshima.
The Kishida-Biden summit will also be preceded by security talks between the nations’ foreign and defense chiefs as they focus on their new national security strategies — released by Washington in October and Tokyo in mid-December — as well as on how the allies will tackle growing security concerns over China, North Korea and Russia.