Biden, Suga seek to sweeten ties

JAPANESE Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga next week becomes the first world leader to meet US President Joe Biden face to face, highlighting the Asia-Pacific foreign focus of the new president.

It is that vast geography that will probably be the critical theatre that will consume much of Mr Biden's time with China and North Korea top-of-mind. It is for this reason that he convened last month, virtually, with the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) composed also of Australian, Indian and Japanese prime ministers Scott Morrison, Narendra Modi and Mr Suga respectively.

Building from the Quad session, top of the agenda next week for Mr Biden will be Beijing and its growing assertiveness which is undermining his vision of a "free and open" AsiaPacific. Take the example of the continuing tensions in the South China Sea where it is not just Japan and the United States, but also other countries such as Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Brunei, that are in dispute with China in the waters through which some US$5 trillion of ship-borne trade passes each year.