Biden scheduled to meet Kishida in Hiroshima on Thursday: White House

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
15 May 2023 08:03

Joe Biden's upcoming visit marks the first time a sitting US President visits Hiroshima.

Doves fly over the Peace Memorial Park near Atomic Bomb Dome (L) at a ceremony in Hiroshima, western Japan, August 6, 2015, on the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombing of the city. (Reuters)

The White House schedule indicates that US President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Thursday in the city of Hiroshima, which was once destroyed by US nuclear bombs.

This comes ahead of a G7 summit that will be taking place in Hiroshima from May 19-21.

As per Biden's schedule, he will be landing in Hiroshima on Thursday, May 18, and will hold bilateral talks with the Japanese premier shortly after landing.

White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Friday that the US President was going to travel to Japan on Wednesday to participate in the Group of Seven (G7) leaders’ summit.

She added that Biden would meet with congressional leaders "early next week" to discuss raising the debt ceiling.

On Sunday, Biden told reporters in Delaware that he is expecting a meeting with congressional leaders on Tuesday.

Japan has in recently increased its military spending and boosted its military power amid rising geopolitical tensions.

On May 9, Russian Charge d'affaires in Tokyo, Gennady Ovechko said: "We are concerned by the Japanese remilitarization policy, forced by the administration of [Japanese Prime Minister] Fumio Kishida. We see at what speed such serious initiatives as updating doctrinal documents in the defense and security sectors, and unprecedented boosting of the military budget are being promoted without proper discussion and approval by the people."

Japan MP says US must be held accountable for atomic bombs

Earlier in December last year, Chair of the New Party Daichi and member of Japan's upper house, Muneo Suzuki, urged the US on Wednesday to take accountability for the atomic bombings of the two Japanese cities of Nagasaki and Hiroshima during WWII, and apologize to the Japanese people.

At the time, Suzuki responded to reports of the US President visiting Hiroshima via his personal website and explained that "even though 77 years have passed since the end of the war, the US, which dropped the atomic bombs, has never apologized or asked for forgiveness. It is the US that speaks loudly of "democracy, human rights, and freedom' about the actions of other countries. So, why not honestly tell Japan and the world what the US has done?"

Moreover, Suzuki noted that Biden must "say what he would really like to say," in that he ought to "tell the world" as well as the people of "Nagasaki and Hiroshima" that "the use [of nuclear weapons] is impossible; the use of atomic bombs was a mistake."

Biden's visit marks the first time a sitting US president visits the atomic-bomb-hit southwestern Japanese city.