President Joe Biden on Friday tried to present a united front with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to counter an increasingly vindictive China as the U.S. leader held his first face-to-face White House summit since who took office.
The talks offered the Democratic president, inaugurated in January, the opportunity to continue working on his commitment to revitalize the American alliances that collapsed under his Republican predecessor Donald Trump.
China topped the agenda, emphasizing Japan’s central role in U.S. efforts to confront Beijing. The two leaders addressed a number of geopolitical issues in a joint statement, including “the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” a slap in the face of Beijing’s increased military pressure on the self-governing island. China.
“Today, Prime Minister Suga and I have affirmed our strong support for the American-Japanese alliance and for our shared security,” Biden said at a joint news conference in the House’s rose garden. Blanca, calling the discussions “productive.”
“We are committed to working together to meet the challenges of China and on issues such as the East China Sea, the South China Sea, as well as North Korea, to ensure a future of a free and open Indo-Pacific. “.
Other urgent concerns of the talks included the rise of China’s military movements near Taiwan, its stronger control in Hong Kong, and its repression against Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang.
Suga said he and Biden agreed on the need for sincere talks with China in the context of Beijing’s activities in the Indo-Pacific region.
On Saturday, in a heavily drafted statement, China’s embassy in Washington said Beijing “strongly opposed” the joint statement and that Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang were China’s internal affairs.
The observations have “completely exceeded the scope of the normal development of bilateral relations,” harming the interests of third parties as well as peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific, the embassy said.
The move was an attempt to divide the region that “will inevitably proceed with the purpose of harming others and end up hurting themselves,” he added.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga attend a joint press conference at the White House Rose Garden in Washington, DC on April 16, 2021.
Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
The summit, Biden’s first face-to-face meeting with a foreign leader as president, came just days after China sent 25 planes, including nuclear-powered fighters and bombers, near Taiwan, which Beijing considers a baffled province.
“I do not mention details, as they belong to diplomatic exchanges, but there is already an agreed recognition of the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait between Japan and the United States, which was reaffirmed in this time, ”Suga said.
The joint leaders’ statement included the first reference to Taiwan since 1969, before Tokyo normalized ties with Beijing, through a similar phrasing by foreign and defense ministers from both countries after a meeting last month.
Attention has focused on drafting Taiwan and other sensitive issues, with caution in Tokyo on the need to balance its security concerns with Japan’s deep economic ties with China.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and U.S. President Joe Biden hold a joint press conference at the White House Rose Garden in Washington, USA, on April 16, 2021. REUTERS / Tom Brenner
Digital competitiveness, human rights
The Taiwanese government welcomed the demonstration of support and called on China to act responsibly.
“We hope that the Beijing authorities will fulfill their responsibilities as part of the Strait and the Taiwan region and jointly make positive contributions to stability and well-being,” the presidential office spokesman said in a statement. Xavier Chang.
Back in China, Biden told a news conference that the United States and Japan will invest together in areas such as 5G, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, genomics and semiconductor supply chains. .
The joint statement said the United States had committed $ 2.5 billion and Japan $ 2 billion to strengthen digital competitiveness, including 5G networks and beyond.
“Japan and the United States are deeply invested in innovation and looking to the future,” Biden said. “This includes making sure we invest in and protect technologies that will maintain and improve our competitiveness.”
In subsequent statements to a Washington think tank, Suga said Japan would say what needs to be said to China and will talk about human rights, while stressing the need to establish a stable and constructive relationship with Beijing.
The leaders’ statement said they “share serious concerns” about the human rights situation in Hong Kong and the Chinese region of Xinjiang, where Washington has said Beijing is perpetrating genocide against Muslim Uighurs. China has denied the abuses.
Japan has been criticized for not taking stronger action against alleged human rights abuses for fear of a backlash that could hurt its businesses with businesses in China, its largest trading partner.
At the White House press conference, Suga said he told Biden that he was committed to moving forward with the Summer Olympics in Japan and that Biden was supporting him. Japan faces an increase in coronavirus infections in less than 100 days until the planned start.
“I told the president my determination to hold the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer as a symbol of world unity,” Suga said.
When they sat down for talks, Biden, Suga and their two delegations wore masks, in accordance with protocols to protect against the spread of COVID-19.
Biden seemed determined to get off on the right foot with Suga after four years in which Trump sometimes punished allies in Asia and elsewhere for what he considered insufficient defense spending or funding for the presence of U.S. troops and questioned the value of parent rock military alliances.
With the Suga meeting and another summit scheduled with South Korea in May, Biden hopes to boost joint efforts with Australia, India and Japan in a grouping known as the Quad, as well as with South Korea, to combat China and the long-standing American enemy North Korea.