Japanese Prime Minister Kishida visits Rome
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida arrives in Rome today for a Japan-Italy summit.
Today’s summit marks the latest leg of a G7 tour, in which Kishida will later meet with leaders of the U.S., the U.K. and Canada.
Kishida is expected to meet today with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni following yesterday’s summit with French President Emmanuel Macron. The Japanese PM will then depart for London and subsequently Ottawa and Washington. This trip is partially intended to pave the way for a successful G7 Leaders’ Summit in Hiroshima this May and to enhance Japanese security cooperation with G7 members.
Japan holds the 2023 G7 Presidency and has assumed a more active role in collective defense since the December publication of its new Defense Strategy. The new strategy, which singles out China as main strategic challenge to Japanese security, prioritizes strengthening cyberspace capabilities and expanding Japan’s military capacities.
To this end, Japanese and American foreign and defense ministers will meet this Wednesday, after which Kishida and U.S. President Biden will meet on Friday for the Japan-U.S. summit meeting. The two leaders will likely announce measures to enhance bilateral security cooperation, including increased Japanese defense spending for U.S. military hardware.
