Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speaks to reporters in Tokyo early Thursday after holding telephone talks with U.S. President Joe Biden. | KYODO
During Donald Trump's administration, America's Asian allies often questioned whether Washington would uphold long-standing promises to defend them in the event of attack.
Trump had publicly mulled withdrawing troops not just from Japan but also South Korea, where more than 20,000 U.S. military personnel are stationed to deter any North Korean military action.
Biden and Suga both urged denuclearization of the whole Korean Peninsula in the call — their first since Biden took office last week.
"I would like to deepen my personal relationship with President Biden and work to strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance," Suga told reporters after the roughly 30-minute conversation, adding that he hopes to visit the United States as soon as possible despite the challenges of overcoming the coronavirus pandemic.
After Biden thanked Suga for agreeing to hold the talks after midnight Tokyo time, the two sides agreed to refer to each other by their first names, Yoshi and Joe, to demonstrate the closeness of their countries' bilateral relationship.
The White House said in a statement that the two leaders also spoke about other shared security concerns involving China as well as North Korea.
The call was one of several between Biden and foreign counterparts since he was inaugurated last week. He's also held initial talks with Canada's Justin Trudeau, Mexico's Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Russia's Vladimir Putin and others in recent days.
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President Joe Biden spoke to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Wednesday and offered his administration's commitment to protecting the Senkaku Islands, a group of uninhabited islets administered by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing, the White House said.
Biden has previously expressed a commitment to the 1960 Japan-U.S. security treaty that covers the Senkaku Islands. But they are the subject of growing anxiety in Japan after China last week passed legislation authorizing coast guard ships to use weapons against foreign ships deemed to be involved in illegal activities around the islets in the East China Sea.
The White House said in a statement that the two leaders also spoke about other shared security concerns involving China as well as North Korea.
The call was one of several between Biden and foreign counterparts since he was inaugurated last week. He's also held initial talks with Canada's Justin Trudeau, Mexico's Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Russia's Vladimir Putin and others in recent days.
The White House gave no indication of whether Biden and Suga discussed plans for the summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. The games were supposed to be held last summer but were postponed until this coming July because of the coronavirus pandemic.
There are growing concerns about whether the games can be safely carried out as the virus continues to kill thousands each day around the globe and nations struggle to ramp up distribution of vaccines to the public.
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach on Wednesday pushed back against suggestions that the body could move the games to another city or again postpone the start of the quadrennial event.
“We are fully concentrated on the Opening Ceremony on July 23rd, 2021,” he said.
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