Japan’s Kishida eyes deeper defense alliance with US

President Biden will host Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House next week as Japan boosts its defense spending amid growing security risks in East Asia regarding North Korea and China.

The president will welcome Kishida on Friday, Jan. 13, to discuss a “range of regional and global issues” and to “deepen ties” between the two nations, according to a Tuesday statement from White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

During the meeting, they will discuss North Korea’s nuclear arms buildup and frequent missile tests, Russia’s war in Ukraine and Chinese aggression over the self-governing island of Taiwan.

“The leaders will celebrate the unprecedented strength of the U.S.-Japan Alliance and will set the course for their partnership in the year ahead,” Jean-Pierre said.

Biden and Kishida last met in Bali, Indonesia, during a Group of 20 summit.

The meeting comes just weeks after Japan announced a historic change from a self-defense only military policy, adopting a national security strategy to allow for counter-attacks in a shift to more offensive footing.

Kishida’s Cabinet last month also approved a 2023 defense budget boosting security spending by 20 percent to the equivalent of $55 billion.

The new budget is part of a five-year plan that will push annual spending to $73 billion and make Japan a nation with the third-largest defense budget after the U.S. and China.

For the 2023 budget, Japan also plans to purchase from the U.S. $1.6 billion worth of Tomahawk cruise missiles, which can hit targets in China or North Korea, and is seeking to develop a wide array of new defense missiles and systems, including hypersonic weapons.

Kishida on Wednesday discussed the visit to Washington during a news conference in central Japan, promising to deepen ties with the U.S. amid security tensions in the East Asia region.

“We will show to the rest of the world an even stronger Japan-U.S. alliance, which is a lynchpin of Japanese security and diplomacy,” Kishida said, according to The Associated Press.

The upcoming meeting at the White House is part of Kishida’s visit to other Group of Seven (G-7) countries in the coming days. The Japanese leader will also meet with his counterparts in France, Italy, Britain and Canada.

Japan is hosting a G-7 summit in Hiroshima this year.