Japan PM Yoshihide Suga to meet Joe Biden to discuss China's growing aggression

Amid growing international condemnation of Beijing’s military exercises near Taiwan and human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is heading to Washington to hold face-to-face talks with US President Joe Biden, with concerns about China topping the agenda. On April 16, Suga will become the first world leader to meet Biden since his inauguration in January. According to The Guardian, the Japanese minister will be hoping to renew the all-important alliance with Washington after the Trump era, as well as compare notes on an increasingly assertive Beijing. 

Officials in Tokyo have said that Suga would seek reassurance that the defence of the strategically important islands was covered by their bilateral security treaty, which commits the US to defend Japanese territory that has come under attack. The Chief cabinet secretary, Katsunobu Kato reportedly said that the meeting is “very meaningful” as it shows to the world the solidarity of the Japan-US alliance and the US’ commitment to the Indo-Pacific region. Kato added that Japan also hopes that the meeting will provide the two leaders with a precious opportunity to deepen their personal relationship to trust. 

US-Japan Summit 

Further, according to reports, the leaders will also discuss the response to the coronavirus pandemic and the climate emergency. Suga could also seek Biden’s public support for the Tokyo Olympics and is expected to invite him to attend the Games. Like his predecessor, Suga will also raise the cold war abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korea. 

Suga will be hoping that his four-day visit to the United States will boost his flagging approval rating in Japan, where he faces criticism over the government’s response to rising COVID-19 cases and slow vaccine rollout, as well as a series of political scandals. 

Meanwhile, several media reports have suggested that the US has pushed Japan to support “peace and stability” in the Taiwan Strait in their joint statement. US and Japan have not mentioned Taiwan in a joint statement for a very long time, but Tobias Harris, a Japan specialist at Teneo consultancy, believes Suga will avoid saying anything that risks damaging ties with Beijing. Traditionally, Japan is also cautious about criticising China’s human rights record and has not joined the US, Britain and the EU in imposing sanctions against Chinese officials over Beijing’s detention and abuse of a member of the Muslim Uyghur minority.

However, during the upcoming summit, experts believe that disagreement between the two nations is unlikely to surface because the purpose of the meeting is to show off their tight relationship to the world. But, Mieko Nakabayashi, a professor at Waseda University in Tokyo, said that behind the scenes, it is easy to imagine that Japan’s interests are not exactly the same as those of the US. 

(Image: AP)