On the eve of Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s visit to the United States for a summit with Joe Biden, a senior U.S. government official revealed that U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will present a united front on the Taiwan issue at Friday’s summit. Suga will be the first foreign leader to meet face-to-face with Biden after he takes office.
Biden and Kan are expected to agree at the meeting to issue a joint statement on the island of Taiwan, which China claims, but is democratically governed, Reuters said on April 15, citing officials in Washington who declined to be named.
In addition, Biden and Kan will also discuss topics such as Beijing’s treatment of Muslims in the Xinjiang region and its impact on Hong Kong, while also announcing Japan’s $2 billion (1.67 billion euros) investment in 5G telecommunications to counter China’s Huawei.
This Reuters report says Kan’s stance on China may not be as strong as the U.S. would like. When he became prime minister last September, he inherited Abe’s China policy, which was to find a balance between “security concerns” and “deep economic ties.
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A Japanese Foreign Ministry official said this week that no decision has been made on whether a joint statement with the United States will be issued. And two Japanese lawmakers said officials were divided over whether Prime Minister Kan should endorse a tough statement on Taiwan.
In response, the senior U.S. government official said, “We also recognize the deep economic and trade ties between Japan and China, and Prime Minister Kan wants to take a cautious path, and we respect that.”
After Biden announced his intention to withdraw troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11, the U.S. official said, “The big issue now is in the Western Pacific. Biden wants the United States, Australia, India and Japan to work together, along with South Korea, to confront China, a longtime enemy.
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