Biden to consult with Japan's Kishida ahead of Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima
The HinduPresident Joe Biden arrived in Japan on May 18 with plans to meet privately with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida ahead of the larger Group of Seven summit — a sign of how the economic and national security alliance between the two countries has strengthened. “There'll be discussions about the state of play on sanctions and the steps that the G-7 will collectively commit to on enforcement in particular.” Mr. Sullivan said the alliance between the U.S. and Japan was at a “genuine high-water mark.” He said Mr. Biden and Mr. Kishida, in their meeting, will aim to advance a relationship that's progressed over the course of the last two years "in every dimension, whether it's the military dimension of the alliance, the economic dimension, the recently concluded agreement on clean energy, the work we're doing together on economic security." But Mr. Kishida is in a complicated position by discussing efforts to respond to nuclear threats by North Korea with Japan's history of also calling for a world free from nuclear arms, said Kan Kimura, a Kobe University professor and an expert on South Korea. During a January meeting with Mr. Kishida, Mr. Biden brought up the case of Lt. Ridge Alkonis, a U.S. Navy officer deployed to Japan who last year was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to the negligent driving deaths of two Japanese citizens in May 2021, according to a senior administration official.