Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to discuss ‘free and open’ Indo-Pacific with US President Joe Biden
- The two leaders are to hold video talks on Friday, with security, trade, the coronavirus and climate change all likely to be discussed
- Shared concerns about China’s actions in the region are also expected to feature and Beijing will be watching for any mention of Taiwan, analysts say
“We hope the first virtual meeting in 2022 between the two leaders will serve as an occasion to show the world the unwavering bond under the Japan-US alliance and take it to a higher level,” Matsuno said.
That position was echoed in Washington by White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, who said the meeting would “highlight the strength of the US-Japan alliance, which is the cornerstone of peace, security and stability in the Indo-Pacific and around the world”.
“From the Japanese perspective, the most important thing is that these talks are happening at all and the content is of secondary importance,” said James Brown, an associate professor of international relations at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.
Both leaders have had to deal with major domestic issues, not least the ongoing pandemic, and travelling to Washington while coronavirus infection numbers were still high would not have sent a positive message to the Japanese people, Brown suggested, with Kishida wary of doing so ahead of the elections for the Upper House of the Diet in the summer.
Given that the two governments’ positions were largely unchanged on the biggest issues, Brown said it is unlikely that “anything substantially new” would come out of the discussions.
One issue that Beijing will be closely watching will be a statement on the Taiwan Strait, which was mentioned for the first time in two-by-two talks in November between Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Hayashi earlier in the week assumed a stiffer position with regard to China than he has done in the past, saying he would strengthen Japan’s alliance with the US at the same time as building up Japan’s military capabilities to ensure “peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region.”
Brown pointed out that Hayashi had come under sustained criticism from some within Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party for being soft on China, “So this tougher stance may well be his way of counteracting that and demonstrating that he’s not the ‘panda hugger’ that some claim.”
Nagy expected Kishida and Biden to “double-down” on the one-China policy in an effort to maintain that status quo, simultaneously sending a message to deter any groups in Taiwan who might interpret their comments as support for a declaration of independence.
And even though Biden was quick to underline Washington’s support for Japan’s control over East China Sea islands that Beijing claims and refers to as the Diaoyus but Tokyo calls the Senkakus, Nagy expected that Kishida would be keen for his US counterpart to repeat that position.
Other issues likely to be addressed included economic security and ways to strengthen supply chains, particularly in the areas of semiconductors and the rare earth minerals that are critical to Japan’s automobile industry, as well as a commitment to deal with the coronavirus as swiftly as possible to get the world “back on track”, he said.