Japan's Kishida set to talk military build-up, chips on G-7 tour

TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has started a tour of key Western partners this week, after unveiling his country’s biggest military build-up since World War II as Tokyo weighs steps to counter China’s growing power.

Mr Kishida, who will host a summit of the Group of Seven (G-7) industrial powers in May, will meet leaders of the US, Britain, France, Italy and Canada. Talks are expected to range from economic security and semiconductors to the war in Ukraine and rising tensions with China and North Korea.

“As leader of the G-7 chair this year, I’ll be making this visit to reaffirm our thinking on a number of issues,” Mr Kishida told a Sunday news programme. “With the United States, we’ll discuss deepening our bilateral alliance and how to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

He visits London and Rome after agreeing in December to develop a new jet fighter with those countries. He is to sign a deal with Britain that will establish a legal framework to allow visits by each other’s armed forces, the Yomiuri newspaper reported last Friday.

On his final stop – at the White House on Friday – issues to be discussed are expected to include Japan’s plans to arm itself with missiles able to strike targets in China or North Korea, the bilateral defence agreement and efforts to limit China’s access to advanced semiconductors.

Tokyo and Washington hope the more muscular military policy that Mr Kishida announced last month, a further move away from Japan’s pacifist post-war Constitution, will close a widening missile gap with China and deter Beijing from military action, particularly against Taiwan.

“He’ll be going to show the US that this has been concluded – and, with the G-7 summit approaching, to touch base with the rest of the G-7 to confirm their stances on Ukraine and Asia,” said political commentator Atsuo Ito.

Japan’s new defensive capabilities may require Washington and Tokyo to revise guidelines that define the roles they play in a decades-old alliance that lets the US keep warships, fighter jets and thousands of troops in Japan.

Last revised in 2015, the guidelines will likely be among the subjects discussed by Japan’s defence and foreign ministers and their US counterparts on Wednesday before Mr Kishida meets President Joe Biden, a Japanese defence ministry official told a briefing last Friday.

On semiconductors, Japan and the US are deepening cooperation on advanced chip development amid growing trade tension with China. Both countries are eager to ensure their manufacturers have access to components considered key to the new technology-driven industries such as data storage, artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Although Mr Kishida has said he backs Mr Biden’s attempt to limit China’s access to advanced semiconductors with export restrictions, he has not agreed to match sweeping curbs on exports of chip-manufacturing equipment the US administration imposed in October.

Even without any major announcements, Mr Kishida will hope his G-7 tour boosts his flagging domestic support, hammered by Cabinet resignations and a scandal over his party’s ties to the controversial Unification Church, analysts said.

“Holding a successful G-7 summit would bring him maximum political points – and this trip is preparation for that,” said political science professor Airo Hino at Waseda University. REUTERS