US, Japan discussing security

Washington, Jan. 14: President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida were prepared to hold wide-ranging talks at the White House on Friday as Japan looks to build security cooperation with allies amid growing concerns about provocative Chinese and North Korean military action. 

The two administrations were also ready to seal an agreement Friday to bolster U.S.-Japanese cooperation on space with a signing ceremony by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa.

The Oval Office meeting and signing ceremony at NASA's Washington headquarters will cap a weeklong tour for Kishida that took him to five European and North American capitals for talks on his effort to beef up Japan's security.

It all comes as Japan announced plans last month to raise defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product in five years, a dramatic increase in spending for a nation that forged a pacifist approach to its defense after World War II. Japan's defense spending has historically remained below 1% of GDP.

“Japan is stepping up and doing so in lockstep with the United States,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.

Blinken said earlier this week that the U.S.-Japan space cooperation framework was a “decade in the making” and “covers everything from joint research to working together to land the first woman and person of color on the moon.”

He added that the U.S. and Japan are in agreement that China is their "greatest shared strategic challenge” and confirmed that an attack in space would trigger a mutual defense provision in the U.S.-Japan security treaty.

Ahead of Friday's meeting of the two leaders, U.S. and Japanese officials announced an adjustment to the American troop presence on the island of Okinawa in part to enhance anti-ship capabilities that would be needed in the event of a Chinese incursion into Taiwan or other hostile acts in the region. Japan is also reinforcing defenses on its southwestern islands close to Taiwan, including Yonaguni and Ishigaki, where new bases are being constructed.

Japan’s push to step up defense spending and coordination comes amid growing concerns that China could take military action to seize Taiwan and worry that North Korea's spike in missile testing could augur the isolated nation achieving its nuclear ambitions.

The talks with Biden "will be a precious opportunity to confirm our close cooperation in further strengthening the Japan-U.S. alliance and our endeavor together toward achieving a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Kishida told reporters just before departing Japan for his five-country tour.

His sit-down with Biden is the final face-to-face in a week of talks with fellow Group of Seven leaders that focused largely on his efforts to surge Japan's defense spending and urge leaders to improve cooperation.

With Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, he cemented Japan’s first defense agreement with a European nation, one that allows for the two countries to hold joint military exercises.

Kishida also discussed with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and French President Emmanuel Macron his hopes to improve security cooperation between Japan and their respective nations. Germany was the lone G-7 country not on Kishida's itinerary.(AP)