WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden will welcome Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House on Friday, a meeting intended to signal a more confrontational approach to China as Tokyo's defense turns south toward the Taiwan Strait.
Kishida is pushing for a larger defense role for Japan in the Indo-Pacific region as his country and the U.S. face down threats on multiple fronts: a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a nuclear-armed North Korea and Russia's continued assault on Ukraine.
Before Kishida's visit, the U.S. and Japan agreed on Wednesday to upgrade their security cooperation by equipping Tokyo with long-range missiles and refitting a U.S. Marine unit in Japan to confront Beijing's military buildup in the region — the latest move by the administration to achieve Washington's long-held desire to focus more on the East and South Asia.
