WASHINGTON: U.S. President Joe Biden will meet virtually with Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio on Friday, the White House said Sunday.

In the meeting, the two leaders are expected to affirm that Japan and the United States will further strengthen their alliance to counter China’s hegemonic ambitions. They are also likely to discuss the promotion of cooperation under the Quad framework, which also includes Australia and India.

“The meeting will highlight the strength of the U.S.-Japan Alliance, which is the cornerstone of peace, security and stability in the Indo-Pacific and around the world,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.

She also said, “President Biden looks forward to working with Prime Minister Kishida to advance our shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific, and to expand our close cooperation on critical issues like combatting COVID-19, addressing the climate crisis and partnering on new and emerging technologies, including through the Quad.”

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a press conference in Tokyo on Monday, “We’ll deepen our cooperation to further strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance, realize a free and open Indo-Pacific and address global challenges, including the creation of a world free of nuclear weapons.”

After Kishida took office in October last year, he explored the possibility of visiting Washington at an early date to hold a summit meeting in person with Biden. Hampered by the spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant of the novel coronavirus around the globe, however, the prime minister gave up on a plan to visit the United States before Monday’s convening of an ordinary session of the Diet, Japan’s parliament.

Kishida and Biden met briefly in Glasgow, Scotland, in November last year on the occasion of the 26th Conference of the Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, or COP26.

JIJI Press