Japanese travelers have not yet returned to Hawaii in great numbers, largely because they face a mandatory quarantine on their return home. But one prominent Japanese visitor is heading to the East Coast later this week.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is traveling to Washington for an in-person summit meeting on Friday with President Biden.
It’s the first in-person leaders’ summit of the Biden administration.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary calls it “proof that the United States places importance on Japan”—adding that it demonstrates “the U.S. commitment to engage in the Indo-Pacific region.”
The meeting is an opportunity to frame a broader discussion of Asia Pacific strategy—and at the top of that agenda is China.
That includes dealing with China as part of a multinational alliance with shared interests—you can listen for the phrase “free and open Indo-Pacific” when it comes to the navigation of regional waters.
Human rights in both the Xinjiang region and Hong Kong may be more delicate issues—and China is paying attention.
Just last week, China’s Foreign Minister told his Japanese counterpart it’s important that relations between their countries “do not get involved in the so-called confrontation between major countries.”
The multilateral theme is likely to echo with other topics such as climate change.
The pandemic will get some attention and while Japan has been slow to roll out vaccinations, that’s not the case with the traveling party.
A Japanese government spokesman says a relatively small delegation will be coming to Washington, and all of them will have been vaccinated.
