Biden arrives in Japan, first visit since the beginning of his mandate: “Missile tests in Korea? Ready for everything"

The President of the United States, Joe Biden , arrived in Japan , landing at the US military base in Yokota, west of Tokyo.

During the second and last leg of his trip to Asia , Biden will be received tomorrow at the imperial palace by Emperor Naruhito, and then he will see the Japanese Prime Minister Kishida during a bilateral meeting, and then attend the informal summit of the Quads on Tuesday , which will also be attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart, recently elected, Anthony Albanese.

International security will be the main agenda of the meetings in Japan, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine raised concerns around the world about autocracies attempting to change the geopolitical status quo by force.

Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida will discuss ways to strengthen their alliance to dissuade China from acting in the Taiwan Strait, while Beijing increases pressure by sending military aircraft to the Taiwan air defense zone. Their joint statement will indicate a cooperation policy to "deter and respond" to China's activities in the Indo-Pacific region, as anticipated by the Nikkei, provoking a harsh reaction from Beijing.

Tomorrow Biden will also launch the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (Ipef), an initiative led by the United States and seen as an effort to counter China's regional influence.

"We are prepared for anything North Korea could do. We thought about how we would respond to whatever it can do. So I'm not worried," Biden replied to a CNN question about the risk of Pyongyang conducting missile tests during its travel to Asia. To another question if he had a message for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Biden replied: "Hi. Period."

(Unioneonline / vl)