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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida\u00a0began a much-anticipated\u00a0visit to Washington<\/a>\u00a0on Tuesday that spotlights shared concerns about provocative Chinese military action in the Pacific and at a rare moment of public difference between the two nations over a Japanese company\u2019s plan to buy an iconic U.S. company.<\/p>\n Kishida and his wife stopped by the White House Tuesday evening ahead of Wednesday\u2019s official visit and\u00a0formal state dinner<\/a>\u00a0as President Joe Biden looks to celebrate a decades-long ally he sees as the cornerstone of his Indo-Pacific policy. Kishida will be the fifth world leader honored by Biden with a state dinner since he took office in 2021.<\/p>\n The two shook hands and first lady Jill Biden embraced Kishida\u2019s wife, Yuko. The foursome posed for a photo and briefly toured the grounds before heading to an upscale seafood restaurant, BlackSalt, for dinner.<\/p>\n The Bidens were presenting the prime minister with a three-legged table handmade by a Japanese American-owned company in Pennsylvania. The president was also gifting Kishida a custom-framed lithograph and a two-volume LP set autographed by Billy Joel. Jill Biden was giving Yuko Kishida a soccer ball signed by the U.S. women\u2019s national team and the Japanese women\u2019s national team.<\/p>\n Ahead of the White House visit, Kishida laid a wreath at Arlington National Cemetery on Tuesday and stopped by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and met with Microsoft\u2019s vice chairman and president Brad Smith. Biden and Kishida on Wednesday will hold talks and take part in a joint news conference before Biden fetes the Japanese leader with the state dinner in the East Room.<\/p>\n The prime minister has also been invited to address a joint meeting of Congress on Thursday. He will be just the second Japanese leader to address the body; Shinzo Abe gave a speech to Congress in 2015.<\/p>\n The visit comes after Biden announced last month that he\u00a0opposes the planned sale of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel<\/a>\u00a0to Nippon Steel of Japan, exposing a marked rift in the partnership at the very moment the two leaders aim to reinforce it. Biden argued in announcing his opposition that the U.S. needs to \u201cmaintain strong American steel companies powered by American steelworkers.\u201d<\/p>\n Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, Biden\u2019s envoy to Tokyo, sought Monday to downplay the impact of Biden\u2019s opposition to the U.S. Steel acquisition to the relationship. Emanuel noted that in February the Biden administration approved a plan that would drive billions of dollars in revenue to a U.S.-based subsidiary of the Japanese company Mitsui for crane production in the United States.<\/p>\n \u201cThe United States relationship with Japan is a lot deeper and stronger and more significant than a single commercial deal,\u201d said Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago, in a joint appearance at Washington\u2019s Center for Strategic and International Studies with Japan\u2019s chief envoy to Washington. \u201cAs we would say in Chicago, you got to chill.\u201d<\/p>\n Nippon Steel<\/a>\u00a0announced in December that it planned to buy U.S. Steel for $14.1 billion in cash, raising concerns about what the transaction could mean for unionized workers, supply chains and U.S. national security. Shigeo Yamada, Japan\u2019s ambassador to Washington, declined to comment on whether Kishida would raise the Nippon-U.S. Steel deal with Biden.<\/p>\n Kishida at the U.S. Chamber said that American investments in Japan and vice versa would make the \u201ceconomies more deeply tied and inseparable.\u201d Smith, the Microsoft vice chairman, announced that the tech company was investing $2.9 billion in Japan over the next two years to expand its cloud computing and artificial intelligence operations there. Microsoft will be working with the Japanese government to improve its cybersecurity capabilities.<\/p>\n \u201cWe see this as a critical investment in every Japanese company that we support and the Japanese government as well,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n Biden has sought to place greater foreign policy focus on the Pacific even while grappling with the fallout of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the grinding\u00a0Israel-Hamas war<\/a>. Last year, Biden brought together Kishida and\u00a0South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol<\/a>\u00a0at the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland,\u00a0a historic summit<\/a>\u00a0between leaders of two countries that have a difficult shared history.<\/p>\n Biden has\u00a0honored Yoon with a state visit<\/a>\u00a0and picked Kishida\u2019s predecessor, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, as the first face-to-face foreign leader visit of his presidency.<\/p>\n The administration has been pleased by Japan\u2019s strong support for Ukraine. Tokyo has been one of the largest donors to Kyiv since Russia\u2019s February 2022 invasion, and Japan has\u00a0surged<\/a>\u00a0its defense spending amid concern about China\u2019s military assertiveness.<\/p>\n Yamada suggested that Kishida would underscore Japan\u2019s support for Ukraine during his appearance before Congress, and lay out why the conflict in Eastern Europe matters to his country. Biden is struggling to get House Republicans to back his call to send an additional $60 billion to Kyiv as it tries to fend off Russia.<\/p>\n Kishida has warned that the war in Europe could lead to conflict in East Asia, suggesting that a lax attitude to Russia emboldens China.<\/p>\n \u201cThe prime minister\u2019s conviction is today\u2019s Ukraine could be tomorrow\u2019s East Asia,\u201d Yamada said.<\/p>\n The Pentagon announced on Monday that the U.S., United Kingdom. and Australia were considering including Japan in the AUKUS partnership, a grouping launched in 2021 that aims to equip Australia with nuclear-powered and conventionally-armed submarines.<\/p>\n Beijing has condemned the AUKUS pact, which it says promotes division and could lead to military confrontation in the region. China\u2019s foreign ministry on Tuesday raised objection to Japan\u2019s prospective new role.<\/p>\n Kishida will stick around Washington on Thursday to take part in a meeting with Biden and\u00a0Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.<\/a>\u00a0Philippine-Chinese relations have been repeatedly tested by skirmishes between\u00a0the two nations\u2019 coast guard vessels<\/a>\u00a0in the disputed South China Sea.<\/p>\n Chinese coast guard ships also regularly approach disputed Japanese-controlled East China Sea islands near\u00a0Taiwan<\/a>. Beijing says Taiwan is part of its territory and will be brought under control by force if necessary.<\/p>\n \u201cCooperation among our three countries is extremely important in maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and in defending a free and open international order based on the rules of law,\u201d Kishida said Monday before leaving for Washington.<\/p>\n The leaders are expected to discuss plans to upgrade the U.S. military command structure in Japan. There are about 54,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan.<\/p>\n White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan the leaders announcements on defense will enable \u201cgreater coordination in the integration of our forces and ensure that they are optimally postured and linked to other like-minded partners.\u201d<\/p>\n Kishida and Biden are also expected to confirm Japan\u2019s participation in\u00a0NASA\u2019s Artemis moon program<\/a>\u00a0as well as its contribution of a moon rover developed by Toyota Motor Corp. and the inclusion of a Japanese astronaut in the mission. The rover, which comes at a roughly $2 billion cost, would be the most expensive contribution to the mission by a non-U.S. partner to date.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n