A Chinese Coast Guard patrol ship is seen near an unidentified vessel at South China Sea, in a handout photo distributed by the Philippine Coast Guard April 15 and taken according to the source either on April 13 or 14, 2021. — Reuters picThe United States and Japan vowed yesterday to stand firm together against an assertive China and to step up cooperation on climate change and next-generation technology as President Joe Biden made his first summit a show of alliance unity.
The statement reiterated that the US-Japan Security Treaty covers the Japanese-administered Senkaku islands — one of several areas in the region where Beijing, which calls them the Diaoyu, has increasingly shown its might. While cautiously worded, it was the first time a Japanese leader has joined a US president in a statement on Taiwan since the allies separately switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing in the 1970s.Universal Values
In a highly unusual comment by a Japanese leader on the US domestic scene, Suga also voiced concern over a wave of attacks in the United States against people of Asian descent. Japan, the world’s third-largest economy, promised under the Paris accord to reduce emissions by 26 percent by 2030 but from 2013 levels — a goal that experts say is not bold enough to meet Suga’s goal of a carbon-neutral Japan in 2050.Biden and Suga said they would step up joint development and testing of fifth-generation internet — as well as the sixth-generation technologies of the future.