Staff Reports
In a juicy White House meeting coming up, President Joe Biden will be rubbing elbows with Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife! The enclave includes a grand state dinner and various diplomatic events, but the real talk of the town is how to handle the pesky influence of China. Not the Good China with the fine dishware, but the superpower China, causing trouble in the neighborhood!
The Heritage Foundation’s very own big shot, Bruce Klingner, spilled the tea, saying the U.S. is gunning for more cooperation against China, and they may just agree to patrol the South China Sea together. Now that’s what we call security, folks!
But wait, there’s more! Before these high and mighty leaders sit down for a cup of tea (or perhaps something a bit stronger), they’ll also be chatting it up with Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. This powwow is all part of America’s plan to make a web of security partnerships in the region, unlike the old way of just keeping every country at arm’s length. We’re all about making new friends and security pacts, you see!
Kishida is even going to grace Congress with a speech, urging those politicians to team up and tackle China’s shenanigans in the Indo-Pacific. Sheila A. Smith from the Council on Foreign Relations says dealing with China is at the heart of the agenda. It’s like the Avengers, but the enemy’s a pesky country instead of a big purple guy.
Then there’s the military talk. Kishida wants to make sure that if there’s a real zinger of a crisis, Japan and America can tag-team it just like in a tag team wrestling match. Smith also reckons Kishida might want to put the heat on Russia, ’cause they’re giving off those same vibes as China. Yikes!
Meanwhile, Japan’s been giving Ukraine a hand and slapping Russia with sanctions. And get this, they’re planning to splurge up to 2% of their money on the military! That sure is a lot of yen… we mean, dollars! The Biden administration is super stoked about this visit. They’re all like, “Japan’s whole thing with Kishida is a primo example of how much cooler everything is when they’re tight with the good ol’ U.S. of A.”
But it’s not all about China and international high fives. There’s some gossipy local stuff too! Kishida might be sweating about the U.S. presidential election, ’cause Biden and former President Donald Trump weren’t too keen on a Japanese company getting their mitts on U.S. Steel. Plus, Trump was tossing around these huge tariffs that could put a damper on Japan’s big trading plans.
Oh, and don’t forget, Japan might be planting some pretty cherry blossom trees on the Washington National Mall and might even build a super-fast train between Houston and Dallas! Talk about trying to impress your friends when they come over for a visit!
The White House teased that Biden and Kishida aren’t just going to chat about China. They’ve got some seriously cool ideas about space travel, technology, money stuff, fighting climate change, and bossing people around in a nice way on a global scale. And there might even be some chit-chat about teaming up militarily. Sullivan, the national security guru, made it clear that they gotta stick together against the big, bad threats out there.
“[President Biden and Kishida] will announce measures to enhance our defense and security cooperation… and to ensure that they are optimally postured and linked to other like-minded partners,” he said in a big, important tone.
Sullivan knows that teaming up with Japan and the Philippines is super important, especially with all the threats lurking. He’s all like, “We’re the U.S., Japan, and the Philippines, and we’re not here to play games. We’re buddies, and we’re making sure the bad guys stay in line!” And just last week, they were even doing joint naval exercises with Australia!
