Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida went on a tour of Europe and North America on Monday, with tough security talks on the agenda, a few weeks after his country announced a major overhaul of its defense doctrine, France Presse reports, Agerpres reads.

Kishida, whose country holds the G7 presidency in 2023, will travel to France, Italy, Great Britain and Canada from Monday. The Prime Minister will end this tour in the United States, where he will meet with President Joe Biden on Friday.

The talks with Biden should reaffirm Japan-US cooperation and the concept of the „free and open Indo-Pacific” region, Kishida told reporters on Sunday, using another term to refer to the Asia-Pacific region. The two leaders are expected to discuss security issues and especially the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. They are also expected to issue a joint statement mentioning Taiwan and North Korea’s denuclearization, according to Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, citing unnamed Japanese government sources. Kishida said he would discuss strengthening Japan’s defense policy with Biden.

Japan, which has called China an „unprecedented strategic challenge” to its security, last month approved a major overhaul of its defense doctrine that calls for a significant increase in military spending over five years.

The next summit of the heads of state of the G7 countries is scheduled for May in Hiroshima (western Japan), a city devastated by the first atomic bombing in history in 1945.

Kishida said that he also wants to reaffirm this year the „solidarity” of the G7 countries with Ukraine, but also with the „Southern countries” on various fronts such as climate change and the food and energy crises.

Agerpres