LIMA (Peru): Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday agreed that the two countries will continue to cooperate in deepening their alliance in an effort to counter China’s growing assertiveness.

In their roughly 10-minute meeting in Lima, Peru, on the sidelines of a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, Ishiba and Biden also agreed that Japan and the United States will strengthen cooperation with like-minded countries, such as South Korea and Australia.

“We agreed to further develop the unshakable Japan-U.S. alliance,” Ishiba told reporters after the meeting, the first of its kind between the two leaders since Ishiba took office last month.

Ishiba thanked Biden, who leaves office in January, for his contributions to the Japan-U.S. alliance.

Under the Biden administration, Tokyo and Washington strengthened command and control coordination between the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military and beefed up joint production of defense equipment.

Ishiba and Biden apparently hope that Japan and the United States will maintain such defense cooperation even after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January.

In their meeting, Ishiba and Biden also agreed that Tokyo and Washington will continue to work together in dealing with North Korea’s nuclear and missile development programs and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

JIJI Press