WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida begins a long-awaited visit to Washington on Tuesday aimed at highlighting shared concerns about provocative Chinese military action in the Pacific and in a rare moment of public disagreement between the two countries about a Japanese company’s plan to buy an iconic American company.
Kishida and his wife will visit the White House on Tuesday evening ahead of Wednesday’s official visit and formal state dinner, as President Joe Biden looks to celebrate a decades-long ally he sees as the cornerstone of his Indo-Pacific policy. Kishida will be the fifth world leader to be honored by Biden with a state dinner since he took office in 2021.
Before the visit to the White House, Kishida will visit Arlington National Cemetery and stop by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. Biden and Kishida will hold talks and participate in a joint press conference on Wednesday before Biden celebrates the Japanese leader with the state dinner in the East Room.
The Prime Minister has also been invited to address a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday. He will be only the second Japanese leader to address the body; Shinzo Abe gave a speech to Congress in 2015.
The visit comes after Biden announced last month that he opposes the planned sale of Pittsburgh-based US Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel, exposing a clear rift in the partnership at a time when the two leaders are looking to strengthen it. Biden argued in his opposition that the US must “maintain strong American steel companies, powered by American steelworkers.”
Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, Biden’s envoy to Tokyo, sought Monday to downplay the impact of Biden’s opposition to the US Steel takeover on the relationship. Emanuel noted that the Biden administration in February approved a plan that would drive billions of dollars in revenue to a U.S.-based subsidiary of Japanese company Mitsui to produce cranes in the United States.
“The United States’ relationship with Japan is much deeper, stronger and more important than any single commercial deal,” Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago, said in a joint appearance at Washington’s Center for Strategic and International Studies with Japan’s chief envoy in Washington . . “As we would say in Chicago, you gotta chill.”
Nippon Steel announced in December that it planned to buy U.S. Steel for $14.1 billion in cash, raising concerns about what the deal could mean for union workers, supply chains and U.S. national security. Shigeo Yamada, Japan’s ambassador to Washington, declined to comment on whether Kishida would bring up the Nippon-US Steel deal with Biden.
Biden has sought to place a greater foreign policy focus on the Pacific even as he grappled with the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the deep war between Israel and Hamas. Last year, Biden brought together Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland, a historic summit between leaders of two countries with a difficult shared history.
Biden has honored Yoon with a state visit and singled out Kishida’s predecessor, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, for the first in-person visit by a foreign leader during his presidency.
The government welcomes Japan’s strong support for Ukraine. Tokyo has been one of Kiev’s biggest donors since the Russian invasion in February 2022, and Japan has significantly increased its defense spending amid concerns about China’s military assertiveness.
Yamada suggested in his joint appearance with Emanuel that Kishida would highlight Japan’s support for Ukraine during his appearance before Congress and explain why the conflict in Eastern Europe is important to his country. Biden is struggling to get Republicans in the House of Representatives to back his call to send another $60 billion to Kiev in an effort to fend off Russia.
Kishida has warned that war in Europe could lead to conflict in East Asia, suggesting that a lax attitude towards Russia emboldens China.
“The Prime Minister is convinced that today’s Ukraine could be tomorrow’s East Asia,” Yamada said.
Kishida will remain in Washington on Thursday to take part in a meeting with Biden and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Philippine-Chinese relations have been repeatedly tested by skirmishes between the two countries’ coast guard ships in the disputed South China Sea.
Chinese coast guard ships also regularly approach disputed Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea near Taiwan. Beijing says Taiwan is part of its territory and will be brought under control by force if necessary.
“Cooperation among our three countries is extremely important in maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and in defending a free and open international order based on the rules of law,” Kishida said Monday before leaving for Washington.
The leaders are expected to discuss plans to improve the U.S. military command structure in Japan. There are approximately 54,000 American troops stationed in Japan.
Kishida and Biden are also expected to confirm Japan’s participation in NASA’s Artemis moon program, as well as the contribution of a lunar rover developed by Toyota Motor Corp. and the inclusion of a Japanese astronaut in the mission. The rover, costing about $2 billion, would be the most expensive contribution yet to the mission from a non-US partner.
On Friday, Kishida will tour Toyota’s electric vehicle battery factory under construction, as well as Honda’s business jet subsidiary in North Carolina. He will also meet with students from North Carolina State University.
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Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.