Joe Biden has vowed to strengthen the United States’ alliance with Japan to thwart growing Chinese military activities in the volatile Asia-Pacific region, including a commitment to the Senkakus, a group of islands in the East China Sea , to defend which is governed by Tokyo but which is claimed by Beijing.
US President and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga agreed during a phone call that the security alliance of their countries “was the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in a free and open Indo-Pacific”.
Biden’s vow to strengthen security arrangements in the region was at odds with Donald Trump’s approach, which has dampened the withdrawal of troops from Japan and South Korea, both of which are key allies in public.
Trump also complained that Tokyo and Seoul were not paying enough for their own security and asked them to buy more American manufacturing equipment.
“We managed to have a great exchange,” Suga said after his 30-minute call with Biden. “We have agreed to firmly strengthen our alliance by having more calls like this.”
The White House said in a statement that Biden reaffirmed the US commitment to provide “comprehensive deterrence” to Japan.
They also agreed on the need for the complete denial of the Korean Peninsula, as speculation about how Biden intends to enter into talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
Japan is particularly concerned about the frequent invasion of Chinese vessels in waters near the Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu in China.
Biden’s ‘unwavering commitment’ to defend the Senkakus was expected, but gained extra significance, a week after Beijing passed legislation authorizing coastguard vessels to use weapons against foreign ships suspected of engaging in illegal activities around the uninhabited island chain.
Officials said the two did not discuss the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Suga’s predecessor, Shinzo Abe, struck up a relationship with Trump during the golf rounds in Japan and the USA and was the first world leader to meet him after his 2016 election victory.
Suga said he hopes to deepen my personal relationship with President Biden, adding that he plans to visit Washington as soon as the coronavirus pandemic allows.
According to media reports in Japan, the two leaders agreed to name each other Joe and Yoshi.
Biden’s foreign minister, Antony Blinken, had earlier told Philippine Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin that the US was rejecting China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea than international law allowed.
Blinken said Washington stands with the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries resisting the pressure from Beijing, which addresses wide areas of the South China Sea.
‘Secretary Blinken undertook to stand with the Southeast Asian plaintiffs in the face of PRC [People’s Republic of China] pressure, ”the state department said in a statement.
China claims almost all of the energy-rich South China Sea, which is also an important trade route. The Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claims.
The US has accused China of using the diversion created by the coronavirus pandemic to promote its presence in the South China Sea.
Blinken, who joined Biden’s government this week, ‘stressed that the United States rejects China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea in so far as it exceeds the maritime territories that China may claim under international law’, the statement said. .
Relations between the United States and China have deteriorated under Trump over a number of issues, including trade, the pandemic, Beijing’s repression of the Hong Kong democracy movement and the persecution of Uighur Muslims.