A series of important incidents and events have preceded Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s first face-to-face summit meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in Washington. These mostly serious and often ominous political and military developments that have occurred in Europe, the Middle East and elsewhere in the world include:

  • On April 8, the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations committee chairman said a China-focused bipartisan agreement was reached on a Strategic Competition Act of 2021.