US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are to underline the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait in a joint statement after their meeting on April 10, Jiji Press quoted a Japanese government official as saying.
Kishida is to begin his state visit to the US on Monday next week, and would be the first Japanese prime minister to do so since former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s trip in 2015, the news agency reported yesterday.
Washington and Tokyo are to position their relationship as a “global partnership” and to outline wide-ranging economic, diplomatic and security cooperation, it said.
Photo: AFP
As the world is facing a turning point where the international order is being challenged, the US and Japan hope to paint their relationship as one that works “to maintain and strengthen the international order,” a Japanese governmental official was quoted as saying.
After the two leaders meet, they are to hold a joint news conference at the White House and issue a joint statement that elaborates on the partnership, Jiji Press reported.
On the economic front, the two sides are to bolster their cooperation in advanced technologies such as semiconductors and artificial intelligence, it said.
They are also to boost cooperation in economic security, including supply chain resilience, by working with private companies, research institutes and universities, which would be clearly stated in the joint statement or related documents, Jiji Press cited the official as saying.
In the fields of diplomacy and security, the US and Japan are to outline plans to promote cooperation between the command systems of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the US military, it reported.
The Yomiuri Shimbun last week reported that the US is considering plans to enhance the functions of the US Forces Japan Headquarters for more effective interoperability.
In the face of China’s increasingly hegemonic behavior, Biden and Kishida are to highlight the “importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait” in the joint statement, the newspaper said.
In other news, the Japanese government has announced a policy to build evacuation shelters on five islands in Okinawa Prefecture in preparation for a potential Taiwan contingency, Fuji News Network reported.
Japan aims to build “temporary evacuation facilities” for residents in Okinawa’s Ishigaki and Miyakojima cities, Yonaguni and Taketomi towns and Tarama Village, it said.
The shelters would be designed to allow evacuees to stay for about two weeks, with outer walls made of reinforced concrete that is at least 30cm thick, Fuji News Network said.
The shelters would also be equipped with an emergency generator and multiple communication devices, it added.
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