WASHINGTON: It is “critically important” for Japan and the United States to work with other allies and friends in the Indo-Pacific, a key US lawmaker stressed in an interview with Jiji Press ahead of Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio’s state visit to the United States from Monday.

Kishida’s upcoming visit “shows that our alliance is very unified,” said Young Kim, head of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee’s subcommittee on the Indo-Pacific.

“Our alliance in coordination with each other and with other allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region is critically important,” she noted.

During his visit, Kishida will hold a bilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday and participate in a three-way summit with Biden and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, Kishida is scheduled to deliver a speech at the U.S. Congress. It will be the first congressional speech by Japan’s prime minister since then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s speech in 2015.

The global landscape “has changed dramatically” since Abe’s 2015 visit, Kim said, voicing concerns over China’s military activities near Taiwan and in the East and South China Seas. “Our alliances are even more important to deter aggression and promote peace through strength,” she said.

Kishida’s initiative to raise Japan’s defense spending to 2 pct of gross domestic product is “huge,” Kim said.

She emphasized that Japan and the United States should work together to further deepen economic ties with Southeast Asian countries and others in the Indo-Pacific. “We need to present them with better alternatives” to keep China in check, she added.

The U.S. lawmaker said she recently inspected the South China Sea aboard a plane and saw Chinese coast guard ships sabotaging the operations of Philippine ships. “We cannot tolerate this aggression toward our friends and allies,” she said.

The upcoming trilateral summit between Kishida, Biden and Marcos will “send a strong message” to China, Kim said.

While Republicans and Democrats are at odds over issues such as U.S. assistance to Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion of the European nation, Kim said, “When it comes to protecting our national security and supporting our Indo-Pacific partners, we are united.”

“We leave our politics at water’s edge,” she said, stressing that both sides can cross party lines on foreign policy.