Biden, Kishida hold joint press conference: US reiterates commitment to Japan's defence| QUAD Summit

now before we go on any further u.s president joe biden met with japanese prime minister fumio kishida held bilaterals on key issues including expanding japanese military capabilities let's just cut across live to tokyo where the two leaders will be holding a press conference are holding a press conference after the meet this time in this context was more important than ever in respect of two points for one we are currently faced with a crisis that shakes the foundation of international order which is russia's aggression against ukraine to defend resolutely free and open international order based on the rule of law unity amongst allies and like-minded countries are required up most now than any other another thing is that the challenge of ensuring peace and prosperity of the indo-pacific region is the most important strategic issue for the international community and japan and the united states are sought to take on leadership role in this sense we highly value the visit by president biden to japan as it powerfully demonstrates united states enhanced engagement in this part of the region also together with president biden we would like to make tomorrow's quad summit a sure success based on this common awareness today frank and useful discussion took place on matters of international community first on russia's egregious aggression unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force is totally unacceptable regardless of location we reaffirmed to respond resolutely together with international community including g7 also confirmation was made to support fully the government and people of ukraine we also discussed the impact the ukraine situation could give on the indo-pacific for china we concur to monitor closely recent activities of chinese navy and joint military exercise of china and russia and strongly opposed the attempt to change status quo by force in east china sea and south china sea and the japan and the united states to closely cooperate on responding to china-related issues including human rights also we affirmed that our two countries basic position on taiwan remains to be unchanged and underscored the importance of peace and stability of taiwan streets which is an indispensable element for peace and prosperity of the international community and called for peaceful resolution of cross straight issue on dprk sharing the serious concern over nuclear and missile issues including the launch of icbm class ballistic missiles japan and the united states and japan us are okay to cooperate even more closely with our firm toward immediate resolution of abduction issue i reiterated my request for full understanding and cooperation president biden extended his strong support after this president biden will be meeting with family members of the abductees at a time when regional security environment is becoming more severe with president biden we affirmed the need to quickly reinforce the deterrence and response capability of japan-us alliances i stated my determination to fundamentally reinforce japan's defense capabilities and secure substantial increase of its defense budget needed to effect it president biden strongly supported my determination we also concurred to expand and deepen security and defense cooperation between japan and the united states further president biden reiterated his commitment to japan's defense and to make sure that extended deterrence will remain unwavering we concur to keep in close touch including on the ministerial level between our two countries in addition to alleviate impact on local communities of okinawa and others we also concur to steadfastly implement u.s forces in japan realignment including construction in renoko or replacement facilities for tenma air station and because situations around nuclear weapons are getting severe we also conclude advanced realistic and effective efforts on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation and work toward the world without nuclear weapons engagement in the indo-pacific by the united states and especially in the economic order is becoming ever more important japan welcomes the launch of the indo-pacific economic framework ipf by president biden and will participate and cooperate in this initiative having said so japan hopes to see the united states return to the tpp from a strategic perspective also in order to expand and deepen japan u.s economic cooperation we agreed to hold the ministerial level japan u.s economic policy consultative committee the so-called economic two plus two coming july further we concurred on cooperation in economic security including the development of advanced semiconductors and specific cooperation regarding space with russia's aggression of ukraine severely damaging the situation over energy and food we confirmed that we shall respond through coordination with the g7 and like-minded nations as well as with international organizations through such cooperation japan and the united states hopes to engage in initiatives to realize a sustainable and inclusive socio-economic environment regarding the new form of capitalism which i am proposing president biden reconfirmed his strong support by cooperating with president biden who is promoting policies that focus on the middle class we hope to create a major global trend of common economic policies among major countries we also exchanged views on global health cancer research climate change production and promotion of human rights and democracy and other global challenges and agreed that our two countries should lead efforts of the international community in such areas further i express the necessity to reform and strengthen the united nations including the security council which bears an important responsibility for the peace and security of the international community and gained president biden's support the president stated that the united states will support japan becoming a permanent member of a reformed security council the pacific ocean does not separate japan and the united states rather it unites us those are the words delivered by president kennedy to prime minister ikeda which resonate with amplified weight in today's context i conveyed the importance of human resources development and people-to-people exchange towards a free and open in the pacific and president biden concurred japan will hold the presidency of the g7 next year as the world faces an unprecedented challenge caused by russia's aggression of ukraine and the heightened risk of use of weapons of mass destruction at next year's g7 summit i hope we can demonstrate the will of the g7 to resolutely reject aggression by force threat by nuclear weapons and attempts to overturn the international order with a strength that will make a mark in history as the prime minister of japan the only country to have ever suffered atomic bombings i believe there is no other venue as fitting as hiroshima to demonstrate our commitment to peace i hope that we can vow to the world that mankind will never cause the catastrophe brought about by nuclear weapons that president biden and other leaders of the g7 will together confirm in front of the peace memorial our solidarity to defend peace global order and values i explained such plans to the president and we reaffirmed that next year's g7 summit will be held in hiroshima and that we shall work together for its success today as an outcome of our meeting we decided to issue a joint statement this statement is the joint strategy of japan and the united states as we keep in mind the current situation in ukraine and the strategic importance of the indo-pacific and aim to uphold and develop a free and open international order under the current situation of international affairs which may be described as the end of the post-cold war era the true value of the japan u.s alliance is being tested more stringently than ever before in order to realize a free and open indo-pacific and to establish a free and open rules-based international order japan and the united states will engage in utmost efforts with irreversible resolve i look forward to furthering our partnership with president biden thank thank you very much i now would like to give the four to president biden of the united states of america prime minister for that warm welcome you've given me here in japan in recent years the alliance between japan and the united states has grown stronger deeper and more capable as we work together to take on the challenges just as important as the opportunities of a rapidly changing world a great example of this we viewed japan's lunar rover just coming out here over out here before after lunch a symbol of how our space cooperation is taking off looking toward the moon and to mars and i'm excited i'm excited the work we'll do together on the gateway station around the moon and look forward to the first japanese astronaut joining us in the mission to the lunar surface under the artemis program and tomorrow we're going to meet with our fellow quad partners australian india for our fourth leaders summit and our second time meeting together in person the quad is showing the world that cooperation and democracies can get big things done and i'm grateful for your leadership and thank you for bringing us all together again to keep driving our progress as we advance a positive vision for the future of the indo-pacific region today we made several commitments to further increase our bilateral cooperation and to work together to ensure free and open-ended pacific that creates opportunity and prosperity for all the people in the region through our comprehensive and reliance and assuming resilience partnership which we uh announced last year we're in a situation now that we've invested our cooperation to spur innovation while delivering concrete progress for our people promoting a secure 5g network improving internet connectivity for our partners in the region improving critical infrastructure and strengthening supply chain resilience particularly on semiconductors batteries and critical minerals responding to cova 19 and building a greater health security and stronger health system is also part of the future and helping the world prepare for the next pandemic with our new cdc regional office right here in japan cooperating on clean energy and decarbonization to tackle the climate crisis and after this the united states and japan together with 11 other nations will be launching the indo-pacific economic framework this framework is a commitment to working with our close friends and partners in the region on challenges that matter most to ensuring economic competitiveness in the 21st century by improving security and trust in the digital economy protecting workers strengthening supply chains and tackling corruption that robs nations of their ability to serve their citizens you know the tula has the two largest democracies the two largest economic economies in the democratic world the united states and japan are demonstrating the strength of democracies in action our cooperation has been particularly vital in organizing the global response to hold putin accountable for his brutal war on ukraine and his attack on the norms and principles that are the foundation of our international order mr prime minister you've been outstanding you've been an outstanding partner throughout this crisis and our unity in the g7 to impose economic costs on russia and support the people of ukraine is sending a strong message about our willingness to defend a rule-based international order and i'm looking forward to continuing our discussions at the upcoming g7 summit in germany and returning to japan next year in 2023 for the g7 summit and i welcome the prime minister's announcement the g7 summit will take place in his hometown of hiroshima we also discuss ways to continue to strengthen our security cooperation the united states remains fully committed to japan's defense and we welcome we welcome the opportunity to work more closely together in an increasingly challenging security environment i applaud prime minister kashida's determination to strengthen japanese defense capabilities as well a strong japan and a strong u.s japan alliance is a force for good in the region i support the peace and stability that's going to continue and we hope to increase across the taiwan straits promote freedom of navigation in the east and south china seas and to deter the democratic people's republic of korea so thank you again mr prime minister for your partnership and your friendship the alliance between our two countries is stronger than it's ever been and it's as important as it has ever been i'm looking forward to exploring even more ways that our relationship will help move us toward a future that benefits all people so thank you very much mr president and i really truly appreciate your hospitality thank you very much we will now accept questions from the press first japanese appoint the journalists and u.s journalists will be appointed by president by them please come to the closest microphone identify yourself and your affiliation and please be brief and clear in your questions due to infection prevention please keep your facial masks when you deliver your question now japanese journalists are there any questions the third row yamamoto-san thank you very much first prime minister with the russian aggression of ukraine prime minister you've been saying that security of europe and security in the pacific are inseparable in today's meeting did you talk about response to china how did you analyze the current status of the cross-straits relations did the japanese side or u.s side explain how u.s would respond in times of contingency what was the request from the u.s side regarding japanese response to a contingency increased rates situation did you explain the defense budget increase or enemy-based strike capability what did you explain in that context prime motor minister well thank you for your question first of all at today's summit meeting as a regards taiwan's trade issue that you asked become affirmed that basic stances of two countries on taiwan remains to be unchanged and underscore the importance of peace and stability of taiwan straight which is an indispensable element for security and prosperity of international community and called upon peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues well in the region security-related environment is getting severe unilateral attempt to change status quo by force like russia's aggression against ukraine this time should never be tolerated in indo-pacific above all in east asia it's indispensable to further strengthen japan u.s alliance based on this shared awareness i have said that fundamentally reinforce japan's defense capability and i stated my determination to fundamentally reinforce japan's defense capabilities and secure substantial increase of its defense budget needed to effect it and present biden strongly supported by determination and also from myself i have said that inclusive what is called base strike capability all the options will be there not to exclude any one of them and this is what i said to president in indo-pacific region as well as to ensure the peace and prosperity of the international community the basis is the cornerstone of which the japan u.s alliance and toward the further strengthening of the alliance we like to remain in close coordination between japan and the united states thank you thank you very much ask you about the economy during your trip here to asia you've promoted the investments by samsung and hyundai but back home in the united states americans are dealing with record high inflation the fed has raised interest rates to try to address those issues and they're also just enormously high gas prices given the cross-currents of the economy right now the the war in ukraine the the china lockdowns that we've seen should americans be prepared for a recession in your view is a recession in the united states inevitable no why not look you're you're talking about the significant progress we've made and making sure we don't have supply chain backups about the 8 000 jobs is going to be bringing to georgia 3 000 jobs to texas from samsung 17 billion dollar investment toyota 1700 jobs in north carolina on battery technology the situation where we're at uh we've created over 8 million new jobs where unemployment's down to 3.6 percent and so on and so forth as if they're a problem imagine where we'd be with putin's tax and the war in ukraine had we not made that enormous progress where are gdps going to grow faster than china's for the first time in 40 years now does that mean we don't have problems we do we have problems that the rest of the world has but less consequential than the rest of the world has them because of our internal growth and strength here's the situation and when it comes to the gas prices uh we're going through an incredible transition that is taking place that god willing when it's over we'll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less relying on fossil fuels when this is over you see what europe is doing relative to the importation of russian gas you see anyway i won't go through it all but uh and what i've been able to do to keep it from getting even worse and it's bad the price of gas at the pump is something i told you you heard me say before would be a matter of great discussion at my kitchen table when i was a kid growing up it's affecting a lot of families but we have released over 257 000 million barrels of oil i should say us and the rest of the world we're convinced to get involved it's helped but it's not been enough we also find ourselves in a situation where we have food shortages food shortages because of ukraine they're over there are literally millions of them all right so that of course pain is the joint press briefing with the american president joe barton along with the japanese prime minister fumio cheetah there remember jovan is in tokyo for the crucial quad summit that will of course take place tomorrow this of course was a meeting that was held before the crucial quad summit the two nations have reiterated their joint stance on taking the relationship between the two of the two of them the very close relationship that they enjoy forward remember japan and the united states of america share a very close equation and that is of course is what is being taken forward from here beyond is now available in your country download the app now and get all the news on the move