US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday unveiled plans for military cooperation and projects ranging from missiles to moon landings, strengthening their alliance with an eye on countering China and Russia.
A joint news conference at the White House reflected the growing importance of Japan on the world stage and to the US, as the two leaders weighed in on Gaza and Israel, Ukraine and Russia, North Korea and other world flashpoints.
“This is the most significant upgrade in our alliance since it was first established,” Biden said after about two hours of talks that focused on the restive Indo-Pacific region, and China’s actions.
Photo: Bloomberg
The US and its allies, including Japan, have been bolstering their militaries to counter what they see as a growing threat from China in the South China Sea and the East China Sea, and to deter any attempt to seize Taiwan.
Biden said their militaries would cooperate with a joint command structure and they would, together with Australia, develop a new air missile defense network.
The two leaders also announced that Japanese astronauts are to participate in NASA moon missions.
Overall, the US and Japan have hammered out about 70 agreements on defense cooperation, including moves to upgrade the US military command structure in Japan to make it better able to work with Japanese forces in a crisis.
Japan is taking on a stepped-up global role after a series of security law changes in the past decade that have transformed its pacifist constitution.
Kishida is to address the US Congress today, and join Biden and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr for a meeting expected to focus on Beijing’s South China Sea incursions.
The meeting took place as China steps up pressure on the Philippines in the South China Sea over areas Beijing claims but international law says belongs to the Philippines.
China is attempting to isolate Japan and the Philippines, a US official said.
By meeting the leaders of those two nations this week in Washington, Biden is aiming to “flip the script and isolate China,” the official said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
RSS