Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will seek public support for his robust new security strategy from US President Joe Biden at their upcoming summit, after criticism from China.
(Bloomberg) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will seek public support for his robust new security strategy from US President Joe Biden at their upcoming summit, after criticism from China.
Kishida arrived Thursday in Washington on the last leg of a whirlwind tour that has taken him to most of the Group of Seven countries before Japan hosts the body’s summit in May. He will meet Biden on Friday, and the two governments are expected to release a wide-ranging joint statement.
The summit comes weeks after Japan announced a radical upgrade of its security policy, including a 60% spending increase and plans to acquire missiles capable of striking nearby rivals such as China. The new strategy has raised hackles in some parts of Asia, where memories of Japan’s 20th century aggression linger.
“It’s very important that we show to the world that the United States is with us on this, especially countries around us like Korea, North Korea, Taiwan or China,” said Ichiro Fujisaki, a former Japanese ambassador to Washington. “Some of them would think Japan is just going by itself.”
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, another key US ally, questioned Wednesday how Japan’s defense overhaul was compatible with its pacifist constitution, Yonhap News Agency reported. He added the move would be hard to stop, given North Korea’s frequent firing of missiles, including over Japanese territory.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin declined to comment on the Biden-Kishida meeting before it happened, but denounced a joint statement signed by US and Japanese ministers earlier in the week as “full of groundless smears against China.”
“While claiming to promote regional peace and stability, the US and Japan are in fact finding pretext for their military buildup,” Wang told a regular news briefing Friday in Beijing.
North Korea, which has fired scores of missiles close to Japan over the past year, last month accused Kishida of seeking to turn his country into an “offensive military giant.” Japan’s planned defense spending increases could rank its military budget third globally, behind only the US and China, compared with ninth now.
Japan’s bolder security policies have already been applauded by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at a meeting with their Japanese counterparts Wednesday in Washington.
“Japan’s strategies align closely with our own National Security Strategy – both in the key challenges we identify as well as in how to effectively address them,” Blinken said after the meeting.
Photo opportunities with Biden may also help bolster Kishida’s support, which has been sagging over a series of scandals. The premier is also expected to meet Vice President Kamala Harris and give a speech in Washington.
His visit comes just ahead of a new parliamentary session in Japan, at which opposition parties have vowed to grill the premier and his officials over how they plan to pay for the unprecedented defense expansion, setting the stage for months of wrangling.
Polls show most voters in the heavily indebted country are in favor of expanding the defense budget, but are opposed to the idea of a tax hike to help cover the costs.
“The president realizes it takes leadership to do this,” US Ambassador to Tokyo Rahm Emanuel said of Japan’s defense plans. “The prime minister has shown that leadership and the president wants to make sure you build off that momentum.”
–With assistance from Lucille Liu.
(Updates with Chinese response in sixth paragraph.)
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