U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have pledged to increase their cooperation to preserve the status quo in Taiwan, negotiated arms deals and reiterated their willingness to preserve the international semiconductor supply chain during their meeting in Washington D.C.
«We emphasized that our basic positions on Taiwan remain unchanged,» the two leaders said in a joint statement at the end of their meeting, in which they reaffirmed their support for the territory’s independence from China’s sovereign ambitions.
Faced with the constant incursions of Chinese planes and ships in the Taiwanese security zone, Biden and Kishida are committed to encouraging «the peaceful resolution of problems across the (Taiwan) Strait».
Kishida and Biden «reiterate the importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element of security and prosperity in the international community,» according to the statement.
In this regard, the two leaders also pledged to increase their collaboration to «secure semiconductor supply chains,» a huge portion of which are manufactured in Taiwan, to counter China’s economic influence in the region.
Kishida has also conveyed in person to Biden the Japanese government’s plan to allocate 211.3 billion yen (about 1.5 billion euros) in the initial budget for fiscal 2023, part of its new defense strategy, to acquire US-made Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles, Japanese government sources have confirmed on condition of anonymity to the official Japanese news agency Kyodo.
On historical grievances, Biden reaffirmed the «commitment of the United States to the immediate resolution» of the unresolved abductions of Japanese citizens by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s, while reiterating its commitment to the «total denuclearization» of Pyongyang.
Finally, Kishida and Biden expressed their «firm opposition to Russia’s unjust and brutal war of aggression against Ukraine,» before reiterating that Japan and the United States will continue to impose sanctions on Moscow.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
