Kyodo News reported on January 3 that Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s top diplomatic issue in 2021 will be to build relations with U.S. President-elect Biden, and strive to quickly coordinate the schedule of his visit to the United States after the establishment of the Biden administration on January 20.
The first summit meeting was realized in early February. But if Coronavirus Pandemic continues to expand, visiting the United States may also become difficult.
According to reports, Yoshihide Suga’s envisaged visit to the United States is after the beginning of February after the regular Congress convened on January 18 began to review the 2021 budget.
He intends to confirm the strengthening of the Japan-US alliance and cooperation towards the realization of the “free and open Indo-Pacific” vision during the talks.
But Biden is highly vigilant about Covid-19, and whether he agrees to direct talks will depend on the Pandemic. According to officials from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, there are also opinions in Japan that “even if you want to go faster, it is possible for the other party not to agree.”
In order to make progress on diplomatic issues, Japan has been using the UN General Assembly, the Group of Seven (G7) summit and other international conference arenas.
After the spread of the Coronavirus Pandemic, most meetings will be held online, and whether face-to-face meetings can be resumed will become the focus.
