Biden and Kishida Discuss Japan ‘Stepping up’ Security 

US President Joe Biden (R) and Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida shake hands during their meeting inside the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US 13 January 2023. (EPA)
US President Joe Biden (R) and Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida shake hands during their meeting inside the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US 13 January 2023. (EPA)
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Biden and Kishida Discuss Japan ‘Stepping up’ Security 

US President Joe Biden (R) and Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida shake hands during their meeting inside the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US 13 January 2023. (EPA)
US President Joe Biden (R) and Prime Minister of Japan Fumio Kishida shake hands during their meeting inside the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US 13 January 2023. (EPA)

President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida were holding wide-ranging talks at the White House on Friday as Japan looks to build security cooperation with allies in a time of provocative Chinese and North Korean military action. 

The two administrations were also ready to seal an agreement to bolster US-Japanese cooperation on space with a signing ceremony by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa. 

The Oval Office meeting and signing ceremony at NASA's Washington headquarters will cap a weeklong tour for Kishida that took him to five European and North American capitals for talks on his effort to beef up Japan's security. 

Biden welcomed Kishida to the White House on Friday morning for the prime minister's first visit to Washington since he took office in October 2021. Inside the Oval Office, the US president praised Japan for its “historic” increase in defense spending and pledged close cooperation on economic and security matters. 

“We meet at a remarkable moment,” Biden told Kishida, adding later: “The more difficult job is trying to figure out how and where we disagree.” 

Kishida, speaking through an interpreter, said the two nations “share fundamental values such as democracy and the rule of law” and stressed that their joint role on the global stage “is becoming even greater.” 

It all comes as Japan announced plans last month to raise defense spending to 2% of gross domestic product in five years, a dramatic increase in spending for a nation that forged a pacifist approach to its defense after World War II. Japan's defense spending has historically remained below 1% of GDP. 

“Japan is stepping up and doing so in lockstep with the United States,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said. 

Blinken said this week that the US-Japan space cooperation framework was a “decade in the making” and “covers everything from joint research to working together to land the first woman and person of color on the moon.” 

He added that the US and Japan agree that China is their "greatest shared strategic challenge” and confirmed that an attack in space would trigger a mutual defense provision in the US-Japan security treaty. 

Before Friday's meeting of the two leaders, US and Japanese officials announced an adjustment to the American troop presence on the island of Okinawa in part to enhance anti-ship capabilities that would be needed in the event of a Chinese incursion into Taiwan or other hostile acts in the region. 

Japan is also reinforcing defenses on its southwestern islands close to Taiwan, including Yonaguni and Ishigaki, where new bases are being constructed. 

Japan’s push to step up defense spending and coordination comes as concerns grow that China could take military action to seize Taiwan and that North Korea's spike in missile testing could augur the isolated nation's achieving its nuclear ambitions. 

The talks with Biden, a Democrat, "will be a precious opportunity to confirm our close cooperation in further strengthening the Japan-US alliance and our endeavor together toward achieving a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Kishida told reporters just before departing Japan for his five-country tour. 

His sit-down with Biden is the final face-to-face in a week of talks with fellow Group of Seven leaders that focused largely on his efforts to increase Japan's defense spending and urge leaders to improve cooperation. 

With Britain's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, he cemented Japan’s first defense agreement with a European nation, one that allows for the two countries to hold joint military exercises. 

Kishida also discussed with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and French President Emmanuel Macron his hopes to improve security cooperation between Japan and their respective nations. Germany was the lone G-7 country not on Kishida's itinerary. 

Japan last month announced plans to buy US-made Tomahawks and other long-range cruise missiles that can hit targets in China or North Korea under a more offensive security strategy, while Japan, Britain and Italy unveiled plans to collaborate on a next-generation jet fighter project. 

“Just a few years ago, there would have been some discomfort in Washington with a Japan that has this kind of military capability,” said Chris Johnstone, a former National Security Council official in the Biden administration who is now the Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Those days are gone.” 

Biden administration officials have praised Japan for stepping up in the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Japan was quick to join the US and other Western allies in mounting aggressive sanctions on Moscow, and Japanese automakers Mazda, Toyota and Nissan announced their withdrawal from Russia. 

The Biden administration officials have been pleasantly surprised by Japan's intensified effort to reconsider its security. 

A senior administration official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss negotiations with the Japanese, noted that historically negotiations involving US force posture in Okinawa have been “unbelievably fraught, incredibly challenging and difficult” and often took years to complete. But, the official said, negotiations before this week’s meetings were completed with striking speed. 

The official said Biden is expected to raise the case of Lt. Ridge Alkonis, a US Navy officer deployed to Japan who was jailed after pleading guilty last year to the negligent driving deaths of two Japanese citizens in May 2021. 

Alkonis’ family says he suddenly fell unconscious behind the wheel during a family trip on Mt. Fuji. He veered into parked cars and pedestrians in a parking lot, striking an elderly woman and her son-in-law, both of whom later died. 

The Navy officer was sentenced in October to three years in prison, a sentence that the family and US lawmakers have called unduly harsh considering the circumstances. Alkonis also agreed to pay the victims $1.65 million in restitution. 

The official added that the Biden administration was working “to find a compassionate resolution that’s consistent with the rule of law.” 

Kishida met with Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday before his meeting with Biden to discuss US-Japan space cooperation and other issues. 



Arrests Made in Türkiye over Calls for Shopping Boycott to Support Istanbul's Imprisoned Mayor

Fine art university students shout slogans as they march past an Expresso Lab coffee bar during a peaceful protest after Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested and sent to prison, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Fine art university students shout slogans as they march past an Expresso Lab coffee bar during a peaceful protest after Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested and sent to prison, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
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Arrests Made in Türkiye over Calls for Shopping Boycott to Support Istanbul's Imprisoned Mayor

Fine art university students shout slogans as they march past an Expresso Lab coffee bar during a peaceful protest after Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested and sent to prison, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
Fine art university students shout slogans as they march past an Expresso Lab coffee bar during a peaceful protest after Istanbul's Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu was arrested and sent to prison, in Istanbul, Türkiye, Thursday, March 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

Turkish police detained 11 people Thursday for supporting a shopping boycott as part of protests against the imprisonment of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s main rival, state-run media reported.

The Istanbul Chief Public Prosecutor’s Office issued arrest warrants for 16 suspects in an investigation into “hatred and discrimination” and “inciting hatred and hostility” among the public, the Anadolu news agency said.

Among the detained was actor Cem Yigit Uzumoglu, who played Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror in the Netflix docuseries “Rise of Empires: Ottoman,” the Actors’ Union said.

The suspects were held over social media posts calling on people to not to spend money on Wednesday and for businesses to shut their doors in solidarity during the daylong boycott, The AP news reported.

Large-scale anti-government protests began last month after the arrest of Istanbul's opposition Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu on corruption charges that critics say are politically motivated. The government insists the judiciary is independent and free of political interference.

Istanbul prosecutors on Tuesday launched a criminal investigation into earlier boycott calls by Imamoglu’s party targeting companies it alleges support the government. In particular, the opposition identified media firms that did not air images of protests in which hundreds of thousands of people flooded the streets to call for Imamoglu’s release and an end to democratic backsliding.

The leader of Imamoglu’s Republican People’s Party, or CHP, issued a warning after authorities blocked social media accounts supporting Wednesday's boycott.

“We know that you have closed hundreds of pages to date,” Ozgur Ozel wrote on X. “If you become a tool for anti-democratic practices today, if you implement access ban demands, think carefully about what this nation will do to you!”

While in prison, Imamoglu has been confirmed as the CHP's presidential candidate. The next election is currently scheduled for 2028 but is likely to take place earlier.

According to the independent ANKA News Agency, some 2,000 people have been detained since Imamoglu was arrested on March 19, with 316 jailed pending trial. Most face charges relating to participating in protests.

Lawyers for imprisoned protesters on Wednesday said many had suffered mistreatment. The government has not responded to the allegations but on Thursday the police issued a statement denying claims that women had been sexually assaulted in custody as “vile slanders.”