Joe Biden’s meeting with Fumio Kishida scheduled for 13 January

President Joe Biden is likely to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on January 13 in Washington.

Biden’s meeting with the leader of Japan, a key Asian partner of the U.S. in confronting China, will come amid North Korea’s missile tests and calls to increase Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal, worrying U.S. allies in the region.

Kishida plans to discuss Tokyo’s new security policy, which in December announced Japan’s largest military buildup since World War II. This was reported last week by the Japanese daily newspaper Yomiuri, citing numerous unnamed sources in the Japanese government.

During a visit to Japan in May, Biden welcomed Kishida’s determination to strengthen the country’s defense capabilities.

Japan plans to invest $320 billion to acquire missiles capable of striking China and to prepare the country for the possibility of a prolonged conflict amid fears that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could push Beijing into action against Taiwan.

Japan is hosting this year’s G7 summit, to be attended by President Biden, in Hiroshima in May.

Japan will hold the presidency of the UN Security Council for two years.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi told the Reuters NEXT conference last month that Tokyo will use its power in the G7 and at the UN to pressure Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

Christopher Johnston, head of the Japan program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., stressed that Kishida’s visit would reinforce Japan’s status as a crucial U.S. ally in the Indo-Pacific region.

He said Kishida will seek Biden’s endorsement of Japan’s national security and defense strategy, in particular supporting Japan’s acquisition of the capability to counterattack a potential adversary if necessary.

“Japan’s defense strategy calls for the introduction of U.S.-made Tomahawk cruise missiles in the near term, but does not specify a timeline. Kishida will seek the president’s support to act quickly,” Johnston said. – “They will also focus on ‘economic security’ issues related to China, including cooperation to control exports of sensitive technologies, particularly semiconductors.”