US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida were yesterday to hold their first formal talks as the two leaders face fresh concerns about North Korea’s nuclear program and China’s growing military assertiveness.
The virtual meeting comes after North Korea earlier this week indicated that it might resume nuclear and long-range missile testing that has been paused for more than three years.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday presided over a Workers’ Party meeting where officials set policy goals for “immediately bolstering” military capabilities to counter what were described as the US’ “hostile moves,” the Korean Central News Agency reported.
Photo: REUTERS
The US and Japan are also concerned about China’s increasing aggression toward Taiwan.
In the past few months, Beijing has stepped up military exercises near the nation, frequently sending warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense registration zone.
Japan also remains concerned about China’s intentions in the South China Sea, where it has stepped up its military presence, and the East China Sea, where there is a long-running dispute about uninhabited islets administered by Tokyo, but claimed by Beijing.
White House officials said that the two leaders were also expected to discuss ongoing efforts to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and a brewing crisis in eastern Europe, where Russia has massed some 100,000 troops near its border with Ukraine.
Biden earlier this week said he believed that Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to order a further invasion of Ukrainian territory, but he did not think Putin wanted an all-out war.
Biden and top aides have sought to rally the support of NATO partners and other allies to respond with harsh sanctions against Russia if it moves forward with military action.
On Thursday, in preparation for the leaders’ call, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Japanese National Security Secretariat Secretary-General Akiba Takeo held their own call to discuss North Korea, China and “the importance of solidarity in signaling to Moscow the strong, united response that would result from any attack” on Ukraine, the White House said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also held virtual talks earlier this month with Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi and Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi, where China’s military maneuvering and North Korea’s nuclear program were discussed.
The leaders’ virtual meeting would be the first substantial exchange between them since Kishida took office in October last year.
The leaders had a brief conversation on the sidelines of a climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, in November.
Biden was the first leader to call Kishida on the morning of his first full day in office.
Biden, who has sought to put greater focus on the Indo-Pacific region amid China’s rise as a world power, had built a warm relationship with Kishida’s predecessor, Yoshihide Suga, and is hoping to build a similar rapport with the incumbent.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft