{"id":42158,"date":"2024-04-11T08:44:16","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T08:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=42158"},"modified":"2026-07-10T02:43:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T02:43:17","slug":"us-and-japan-announce-new-military-agreements-aimed-at-countering-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2024\/04\/11\/us-and-japan-announce-new-military-agreements-aimed-at-countering-china\/","title":{"rendered":"US and Japan announce new military agreements aimed at countering China"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Joe Biden and Fumio Kishida, the Japanese prime minister, have announced\u00a0a new era of military cooperation\u00a0during the pomp and pageantry of a White House state visit aimed at countering China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US president said the two nations\u2019 forces will cooperate on a joint command structure and, along with Australia, develop a new air missile defence network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re increasing the interoperability and planning of our militaries so they can work together in a seamless and effective way,\u201d Biden\u00a0said at a joint press conference\u00a0with Kishida in the bright sunshine of the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday. \u201cThis is the most significant upgrade in our alliance since it was first established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"White<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m also pleased to announce that for the first time,\u00a0Japanand the United States and Australia will create a networked system of air, missile and defence architecture. We\u2019re also looking forward to standing up a trilateral military exercise with Japan and the United Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The president, born a year after the Japanese attack on\u00a0Pearl Harbor<\/a>\u00a0that prompted US entry into the second world war, said the agreements set a \u201cnew benchmark for our military cooperation\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The move appears aimed at making US and Japanese forces more nimble in the event of a crisis such as a Chinese invasion of\u00a0Taiwan. Biden insisted that it was \u201cpurely defensive\u201d and \u201cnot aimed at any one nation or a threat to the region\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"US<\/a>
US President Joe Biden joins Japan prime minister Fumio Kishida in a toast at an official state dinner at the White House in Washington. Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kishida told reporters that the two leaders had discussed tense relations\u00a0between Taiwan and China\u00a0and pledged to uphold international order based on the rule of law. \u201cWe confirmed that unilateral attempts to change status quo by force or coercion is absolutely unacceptable,\u201d Kishida said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US and Japan will continue to respond to such actions, including challenges from China, he added. \u201cRegarding Russia\u2019s aggression of Ukraine, based on a recognition that Ukraine today may be east Asia tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leaders also announced deals for technology, including artificial intelligence and the economy, along with a joint partnership to accelerate development and commercialisation of nuclear fusion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"An<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Biden said they had a shared goal that a Japanese person will be the first non-American to walk on the moon, flying on a US mission due to take place in a few years\u2019 time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan is taking on a more prominent global role after a series of security law changes in the past decade that have transformed its pacifist constitution. Biden also noted that Japan is the top foreign investor in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall the US and Japan have struck about 70 agreements on defence cooperation, including moves to upgrade the US military command structure in Japan, the biggest such change since the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two sides will set up a forum for the co-development and co-production of missiles and maintenance of US warships and aircraft, as well as a working group for fighter pilot training and co-development and co-production of jet trainers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A joint statement said the US\u2019s\u00a0Aukus <\/a>defence <\/a>partnership\u00a0with Australia and Britain is considering cooperation with Japan on advanced capabilities and technologies including quantum computing, undersea, hypersonic, artificial intelligence and cyber technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked if there was a path for Japan to become a full member of\u00a0Aukus, Kishida replied: \u201cWe want to contribute to the peace and stability of the region and therefore we have consistently supported Aukus \u2026 But for Japan, to have a direct cooperation with Aukus, nothing has been decided at this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Singer<\/a>
Singer Paul Simon provides the entertainment after a sumptuous formal state dinner, opening his set performance with Graceland Photograph: Evelyn Hockstein\/Reuters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Kishida is the first Japanese leader to get a US state visit since\u00a0Shinzo Abe in 2015\u00a0and only the fifth world leader to receive one since Biden took office in 2021. The dinner was held in the grand East Room of the White House, decorated by fans and cherry blossom branches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White House chefs served a meal featuring Japanese flavors, starting with house-cured salmon, followed by dry-aged ribeye with wasabi sauce, and salted caramel pistachio cake with cherry ice-cream. After dinner, singer\u00a0Paul Simonperformed hits while playing guitar, including Graceland and Slip Slidin\u2019 Away. Simon is one of Jill Biden\u2019s favourite artists, according to the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the dinner, Kishida quoted from the science fiction series Star Trek, telling guests \u201cI would like to propose a toast to our voyage to the frontier of the Japan-US relationship with this word: boldly go,\u201d a phrase from the iconic opening monologue of the TV series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other notable guests at the dinner included Bill and Hillary Clinton and actor Robert De Niro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kishida will address Congress on Thursday and join Biden and the Philippines president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, for a meeting expected to focus on Beijing\u2019s South China Sea incursions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Biden also expressed support for Japan\u2019s attempts to set up a leader-to-leader summit with\u00a0North Korea. \u201cWe welcome the opportunity of our allies to initiate dialogue with the Democratic Republic of Korea,\u201d he commented. \u201cAs I\u2019ve said many times, we\u2019re open to dialogue ourselves at any time but without preconditions from the DPRK.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joe Biden and Fumio Kishida, the Japanese prime minister, have announced\u00a0a new era of military cooperation\u00a0during the pomp and pageantry of a White House state visit aimed at countering China. The US president said the two nations\u2019 forces will cooperate on a joint command structure and, along with Australia, develop a new air missile defence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":42159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[43,1],"tags":[10618,11363,6728,5274,5304,13223,3347,6263,5178,11941,5307,12708,7421,12679,10460,6693,8440,6197,2761,12326,913,5196,12310,9026,6606,7058,1143,10925,10954,5252,2959,9326,7547,6277,2471,6690,10342,9833,5572,5254,12985,10477,12085,7964,5253,6666,8937,5396,6300,7803,3805,3174,10056,3457,2381,5655,8017,6838,2711,6675,5180,3080,9262,11487,6348,9516,11331,7810,5251,2354,6571,2982,10415,36],"class_list":["post-42158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-actor","tag-aircraft","tag-alliance","tag-asia","tag-attack","tag-aukus","tag-australia","tag-beijing","tag-biden","tag-bill","tag-britain","tag-by-force","tag-chinese","tag-clinton","tag-coercion","tag-congress","tag-crisis","tag-cyber","tag-de-niro","tag-decade","tag-democratic","tag-economy","tag-exercise","tag-fans","tag-ferdinand-marcos-jr","tag-fumio-kishida","tag-hillary-clinton","tag-ice","tag-international","tag-invasion","tag-japan","tag-japanese","tag-jet","tag-jill-biden","tag-joe-biden","tag-korea","tag-law","tag-meeting","tag-military","tag-missile","tag-missiles","tag-moon","tag-nations","tag-north","tag-north-korea","tag-nuclear","tag-nuclear-fusion","tag-peace","tag-philippines","tag-pilot","tag-president","tag-prime-minister","tag-robert-de-niro","tag-russia","tag-science","tag-security","tag-shinzo-abe","tag-singer","tag-taiwan","tag-technology","tag-ukraine","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states","tag-upgrade","tag-us","tag-us-military","tag-us-president","tag-us-warships","tag-war","tag-washington","tag-white","tag-white-house","tag-work","tag-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42158"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42160,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42158\/revisions\/42160"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}