Biden arrives in Japan for Quad amid protests, domestic tensions
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In light of the Quad Summit that will be held in Japan later on, US President Joe Biden arrives in Tokyo as the city undergoes protests demanding against Biden's regional plans.
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US President Joe Biden disembarks from the Marine One helicopter at a landing zone in Tokyo, Japan May 22, 2022 (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden arrived in Tokyo, where he will hold a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and attend the Quad summit, Kyodo news agency reported Sunday.
The Japanese outlet said Biden, who had just finished his visit to South Korea, landed at the Yokota Air Base in the capital aboard a government plane. He was received on the tarmac by Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa and US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel.
Biden is set to meet with Kishida on Monday, with the talks focusing on strengthening the US-Japan alliance in light of the Ukraine war and China's increasing influence in the Indo-Pacific.
Japan is expected to announce an increase in defense spending at the NATO level of 2% of its GDP from the current 1.24% of GDP, Japanese media reported.
The Quad Summit, an informal strategic forum between the United States, Japan, Australia, and India, will take place on Tuesday.
US President Joe Biden, during his first trip to Asia since taking office in January of last year, said: "Hello... period," to his the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) counterpart, Kim Jong Un, from across the border in South Korea before leaving for Japan.
The "hello" was a response to questions about what message he had for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) leader, which highlighted the Biden administration's approach to unresolved tensions with Pyongyang, which comes as a stark contrast to the former administration's approach. Neither approach has resulted in a breakthrough for the United States, which aspires to halt the DPRK missile tests as the latter grapples with severe sanctions from Washington and its allies.
Before Biden made it to Japan and in preparation for the Summit, the Tokyo police deployed a record of 18,000 police officers to ensure the safety of the leaders coming from various nations. The police will pay special attention to major stations, airports, and the US embassy in Tokyo.
The police have been put on high alert to deter or prevent any terrorist attacks, employing various measures, such as using K9s to detect explosives during patrols and keeping an emergency response team on standby, the NHK broadcaster reported.
Over 700 people had taken to the streets of Tokyo on Sunday afternoon to show their disapproval of Biden's visit and the Quad Summit. They were protesting against the US-led regional economic initiative, the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), and other proposed alliances they saw had no visible benefits for participating countries apart for the United States.
US Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley underlined that his country was being tested in Europe through the war in Ukraine, "in Asia by China’s dramatic economic and military growth as well as DPRK's nuclear and missile threats, and in the Middle East and Africa by instability from terrorists," The Associated Press quoted him as saying.
