Author: Makoto Ichikawa

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has apparently succeeded in demonstrating the strong Japan-U.S. ties around the world during his latest visit to the United States as a state guest, but he may find it difficult to leverage the diplomatic achievement in shoring up his flagging administration. 
   “I was able to tell the U.S. Congress, the American people and the world what kind of future Japan and the United States, as global partners, are trying to create for the next generation,” Kishida told reporters in the southern U.S. state of North Carolina on Friday.
   At a White House summit Wednesday, Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to strengthen their countries’ cooperation in various fields, including security and defense, apparently keeping China, which is increasing its hegemonic moves, in mind.
   In his speech at a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Thursday, Kishida underlined the need for Japan and the United States to work together to maintain the international order, receiving a standing ovation from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers.
   In North Carolina, Kishida highlighted Japanese companies’ investment in the United States, through his visits to an automotive battery plant of Toyota Motor Corp. and a factory of Honda Motor Co.’s aircraft unit, making preparations in case former U.S. President Donald Trump, who attaches importance to bolstering economic benefits for his country, returns to the White House in the November presidential election.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. President Joe Biden announced a “new era” for their countries’ alliance during a state visit to Washington by the Japanese leader on Wednesday, with the pair heralding a historic upgrade of defense ties as they look to beef up Tokyo’s role in countering China’s growing assertiveness.

The state visit — which includes all the fanfare, from a military honor guard in full regalia and a swanky black tie banquet — was the culmination of years of deepening cooperation under Biden and Kishida that has taken the U.S.-Japan relationship to new heights.

“Over the last three years, the partnership between Japan and the United States has been transformed into a truly global partnership,” Biden said ahead of talks with Kishida at the White House.

The two leaders pledged to push ties even closer, unveiling plans to revamp the U.S. military’s command and control frameworks in Japanfollowing a similar move by the Self-Defense Forces, “to enable seamless integration of operations and capabilities and allow for greater interoperability and planning between U.S. and Japanese forces.”

The move comes as concerns rise over China’s military moves around democratic Taiwan and nuclear-armed North Korea’s increasingly belligerent saber-rattling.

Talks on those changes would be fleshed out at so-called two-plus-two talks between the allies’ defense chiefs and top diplomats, Kishida said. A meeting is expected to take place in the coming months.

In total, Biden and Kishida unveiled a spate of around 70 agreements — in what one senior White House official said was “the largest set of substantial, significant deliverables that we’ve seen” to date.

The agreements include a deal to allow Japanese companies to handle major repair work for warships, while the allies also “plan to explore the possibility of conducting maintenance and repair on engines of Japan-based U.S. Air Force aircraft, including fourth generation fighters,” the leaders said in a joint statement.

The two sides also said they would create a new consultative body “to leverage our respective industrial bases to meet the demand for critical capabilities and maintain readiness over the long term.” The Defense Industrial Cooperation, Acquisition and Sustainment (DICAS) forum, co-led by the Pentagon and Japanese Defense Ministry, would use this “to identify priority areas for partnering U.S. and Japanese industry” on defense and military equipment.

Biden and Kishida also unveiled plans to upgrade defense communications networks and to network air defense capabilities between the U.S., Australia and Japan to counter air and missile threats.

As competition with Russia and China in space heats up, the two leaders also announced a goal of making a Japanese national the first non-American to land on the moon as part of the NASA-led Artemis mission.

Biden characterized the bolstered ties as “the most significant upgrade in our alliance since it was first established,” with one senior White House official calling the developments “unimaginable just a few years ago and frankly, unimaginable with a leader other than Fumio Kishida.”

Kishida, who is the first Japanese leader to make a state visit to the U.S. since Shinzo Abe in 2015, will also follow his late predecessor indelivering an address to a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday.

The visit highlighted the importance that Biden has put on building up alliances in the face of China, but especially its alliance with Japan — which has undergone a dramatic shift in defense policy overseen by Kishida.

This shift has included a commitment to increase defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product by 2027 and most recently an easing of strict defense export guidelines to enable the transfer of a future sixth-generation fighter aircraft and finished defense products, including lethal ones, manufactured in Japan under foreign license to the patent-holding countries.

At a news conference following about two hours of talks, Biden touted his push to “rebuild the muscle” of the United States’ alliances, which he called “America’s greatest asset.”