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When President JOE BIDEN sits down with Japanese Prime Minister FUMIO KISHIDA on Friday, it is going to mark a significant tete-a-tete that might have profound implications for U.S. policy towards a critical a part of the globe.
It’s also a possibility for Biden to underscore how his diplomatic efforts within the face of recent geopolitical threats are bringing allies into closer alignment, and delivering in an area where DONALD TRUMP’s sharp-elbowed approachlargely failed to attain results.
Kishida involves the White House fresh off of outlining a plan for his country to shed its postwar constraints, each political and psychological, and increase its defense spending and boost military capabilities to not only deter attacks but to strike enemies if obligatory. It’s a profound shift for Japan, long averse to militarization and wary of getting dragged into global conflicts.
Kishida’s newly stated goal of accelerating Japan’s defense spending to 2.7 percent of the country’s GDP by 2027, comes on the heels of German Chancellor OLAF SCHOLZ’s Zeitenwende address. Days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Scholz declared the war a “turning point,” reason enough, he said, to finally boost Berlin’s defense spending to 2 percent of Germany’s gross domestic product, reversing many years of maximum caution on military matters following the top of the Cold War.
Each announcements are remarkable about-faces for nations with complicated histories. They arrive just a number of years after Trumptried bullying allies into recommitting to their very own defense. Many are doing exactly that — but on Biden’s watch.
“What Kishida has announced is just as significant as what Scholz did,” said IAN BREMMER, the president of The Eurasia Group, a world risk assessment firm. While the shift is basically precipitated by the changing security environment, he added, “Biden’s leadership has made it easier for Japan to lean in because they know he’s going to be there. Trump has really receded. I’m just not hearing Japanese leaders nervous about Trump’s return as they were.”
Kishida’s trip to Washington is the last stop on a week-long trip to fulfill with G-7 allies ahead of the May summit he’ll host in his home city of Hiroshima that can focus, partly, on nuclear disarmament. It’ll also come as he has been weakened at home by a series of scandals.
“Kishida needs a bear hug from Biden, and Biden can provide it to him,” said JOSHUA WALKER, president and CEO of the U.S.-based Japan Society.
With little progress around a broader trans-Pacific trade agreement, the meetings are more likely to give attention to defense issues and technology, specifically limiting exports of semiconductors to China.
In addition they could center on Japan’s concerns about regional stability, which have deepened amid North Korean leader KIM JONG UN’s recent resumption of a brazen regime of missile tests and China’s recent saber rattling about Taiwan.
“Most of Tokyo’s concern focuses on China, but North Korea continues to reveal it mustn’t be forgotten,” said SHEILA SMITH, a senior fellow on the Council on Foreign Relations. “The longer-term balance of power across the Indo-Pacific will likely be determined by how integrated the strategies of Japan, the U.S., Australia and India might be.”
Biden and Kishida agree on that. The White House, actually, has been heartened by Kishida’s response to the war in Ukraine — which began just months after he was elected — and his willingness to sentence Russia’s invasion and impose strict sanctions alongside the U.S. and European allies. That’s a significant reversal from 2014, when Japan sought to avoid taking sides following Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
In an interview last week with the Washington Post, Kishida also echoed Biden’s view that Moscow’s unprovoked invasion is about not only the fate of eastern Europe however the rules-based international order itself.
“We see a much greater convergence of how Japan looks on the world and the way the U.S. looks on the world,” said one senior administration official, who agreed to debate the bilateral meetings on the condition of anonymity. Tokyo’s shift to a more forward-leaning posture on defense, the official continued, “reflects the tremendous degree of confidence that comes from U.S. investments within the alliance.”
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This one is from Allie. Which president opened up a whiskey distillery after his time in office?
(Answer at the underside.)
A CONSTANT DRIP: Additional classified documents from Biden’s time as vice chairman were found at his home in Wilmington, Del., White House counsel RICHARD SAUBER said Thursday. The batch was positioned during searches of Biden’s residences in each Wilmington and Rehoboth Beach, Del., and prompted by the invention of classified documents at his D.C. office on the Penn Biden Center.
“As I said earlier this week, people know I take classified documents and classified materials seriously,” Biden said Thursday morning soon after the news broke. “I also said we’re cooperating fully and completely with the Justice Department’s review.” Our KELLY HOOPER has more details.
SPECIAL TREATMENT: By mid day, Attorney General MERRICK GARLAND had announced he was appointing former U.S. Attorney ROBERT HUR as a special counsel to further investigate the difficulty, our KYLE CHENEY reports.
RECOMMENDED READS: “Multiple Biden aides have been interviewed by federal law enforcement in classified document review,” NBC News’ CAROL E. LEE and MIKE MEMOLI … “Who’s Robert Hur, the special counsel overseeing the Biden document probe,” CNN’s DEVAN COLE … “A side-by-side have a look at the Trump, Biden classified documents,” by AP’s MEG KINNARD.
TWEET OF THE DAY: Satirical Twitter account Recent York Times Pitchbot, which pokes fun of the Gray Lady, made light of the document news Thursday:
THANKS BUT, UH, NO THANKS?: Bloomberg’s JUSTIN SINK politely suggested National Security Council spokesperson JOHN KIRBY turn over the rostrum back to press secretary KARINE JEAN-PIERRE during Thursday’s briefing in order that there can be time left to ask her in regards to the classified documents.
“Jeez,” Jean-Pierre said. “Justin didn’t hold back in any respect.”
WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU TO READ: Anything in regards to the latest Consumer Price Index numbers. “U.S. inflation eased to six.5 percent in December compared with a yr earlier, marking the sixth straight monthly deceleration since a mid-2022 peak. The buyer-price index, a measurement of what consumers pay for goods and services, rose at its slowest pace since October 2021,” WSJ’s GWYNN GUILFORD reports. Several White House officials tweeted out the news Thursday.
WHAT THE WHITE HOUSE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO READ: Anything about those classified documents, probably. But additionally this piece by our JONATHAN LEMIRE, CAITLIN EMMA and ADAM CANCRYN in regards to the potential debt ceiling showdown:
“The White House isn’t taking the looming standoff calmly, noting that, amongst House Republicans, the saber-rattling has already begun. Some Republicans, armed with only a razor-thin majority, have publicly entertained the concept of demanding policy concessions in exchange for lifting the debt ceiling ahead of its late September deadline. Democrats counter that no such concessions were made under Donald Trump and that, more importantly, a default would potentially upend the financial markets, cost tens of millions of jobs and downgrade the nation’s credit standing.”
EO INCOMING: The Biden administration is working on an executive order that may goal U.S. investments in China, though the administration is unlikely to act before Secretary of State ANTONY BLINKEN’s visit to China in February, Axios’ HANS NICHOLS reports.
POWELL’S TIGHTROPE: Our VICTORIA GUIDA takes a more in-depth look into the battle between Wall Street and Federal Reserve Chair JEROME POWELL, as he continues to make moves to tame inflation and push against financial markets. “It’s a really peculiar tango that we’re dancing here,” said TORSTEN SLOK, chief economist at Apollo Global Management. “On the one hand, the Fed must surely be very glad with inflation taking place. But they don’t want markets to complicate the speed with which we’re taking place.”
PERSONNEL MOVES: EMMA EATMAN is now manager on the worldwide communications team managing global value chain comms on the Estée Lauder Corporations, DANIEL LIPPMAN has learned. She most recently was press secretary for the Department of Labor.
THE BOOSTER RESISTANCE: Lower than 40 percent of individuals 65 and up have received the updated Covid-19 booster, and state and federal health officials are growing frustrated as a vacation spike in cases brought 1000’s of seniors to the hospital despite the widespread availability of the vaccines, our MEGAN MESSERLY and Adam Cancryn report.
The White House, also growing frustrated with the booster resistance, is taking motion of its own, forwarding lists of senior facilities with zero people vaccinated to state regulators for review.
ALL ABOUT THAT RENEWABLE ENERGY: The Interior Department plans to introduce a significant update regarding regulations on the event of renewable energy on the U.S. Outer Continental Shelf — a geographical term that encompasses all of the states which have water borderlines, our KELSEY TAMBORRINO reports for Pros. The changes aim to make the method for deploying U.S. renewable energy projects less complex.
Harris navigates double standard in unscripted moments as VP (The Hill’s Amie Parnes)
Republicans Have Officially Began Making Joe Biden’s Life Hell (Vanity Fair’s Eric Lutz)
GEORGE WASHINGTON’s post-presidency was a busy one, especially after he used rye crops at his Mount Vernon residence to create a whiskey empire.
Based on Smithsonian Magazine, “the distillery finished construction in 1798, and by 1799, it was the biggest whiskey distillery within the country. That yr, the distillery produced 11,000 gallons of clear, unaged whiskey, which Washington sold for a complete of $1,800 ($120,000 by today’s standards).”
A CALL OUT — Do you think that you might have a harder trivia query? Send us your best one in regards to the presidents with a citation and we may feature it.
Edited by Eun Kyung Kim and Sam Stein.