Biden-Kishida Summit Secures New Defense Cooperation

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at how the U.S.-Japan summit is countering China, parliamentary elections in South Korea, and the European Union’s new asylum policies.

An ‘Unbreakable’ Partnership

U.S. President Joe Biden hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House on Wednesday to announce a more than 70-point plan to bolster bilateral defense and intelligence cooperation. The multiday summit aims to address rising tensions in the Indo-Pacific, including Chinese ambitions in the South China Sea and concerns about North Korea’s nuclear program.

The U.S.-Japan partnership is “unbreakable,” Biden said, celebrating the “monumental alliance between our two great democracies.”

Biden and Kishida also planned to discuss upgrading the United States’ military command headquarters in Japan to better coordinate with Japanese forces. The two leaders also announced a “military industrial council” to explore what types of defense weapons Washington and Tokyo can jointly produce. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara are expected to finalize the details over the next few months.

Following Japan’s defeat in World War II, the country established a pacifist constitution that limits its military to self-defense. Kishida, however, has continued a shift away from that doctrine that began under his predecessor, Shinzo Abe. Since coming to office in 2021, Kishida has eased restrictions on lethal weapons exports, promised to raise defense spending to 2 percent of GDP by 2027, purchased U.S. Tomahawk missiles to increase counterstrike abilities, and helped establish security groupings such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.

“Today the world faces more challenges and difficulties than ever before,” Kishida said. “Japan will join hands with our American friends, and together, we will lead the way in tackling the challenges of the Indo-Pacific region and the world.”

During the summit, Biden and Kishida announced plans for a joint lunar space mission; research cooperation on artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and clean energy; and a new scholarship for U.S. high schoolers to participate in exchange programs with Japanese schools. Much of the two leaders’ conversation also touched on ways to boost Tokyo’s sensitive intelligence protection efforts. Japan has long sought to join the Five Eyes intelligence network (consisting of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States) to better combat perceived Chinese provocations.

On Thursday, Kishida will become the second Japanese leader in history to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress. He will also attend a trilateral meeting with Biden and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to discuss repeated hostile encounters between Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels in the South China Sea. Biden’s planned meeting with Kishida and Marcos aims to “flip the script and isolate China,” a U.S. official told Reuters.

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What We’re Following

Expected opposition victory. South Korea held legislative elections on Wednesday to determine all 300 seats in the country’s unicameral National Assembly. Early exit polls predicted that the opposition Democratic Party and its allies would secure at least 178 seats—granting them majority control. President Yoon Suk-yeol’s conservative People Power Party is likely to only win around 100 seats. Final results are expected on Thursday.

Yoon won the presidency in March 2022 by the narrowest margin in the country’s history. Since then, he has relied heavily on presidential decrees to pass laws, as they don’t require legislative approval. During his first year, Yoon issued 809 executive orders compared to his two immediate predecessors’ 660 and 653 decrees, respectively. Analysts said the opposition’s expected win on Wednesday will deliver a significant blow to Yoon’s administration as he faces decreasing public approval and a cost-of-living crisis in Seoul.

EU migration policies. The European Parliament passed a wide-ranging legislative framework on Wednesday that restructures how the bloc handles asylum cases. Under the new policies, which took years to finalize, European Union member states are no longer solely responsible for processing asylum-seekers who arrive at their borders. Instead, responsibility will be shared across all 27 members to ease the burden that southern states—such as Greece, Malta, and Italy—have faced, whether that be through relocation or other types of financial or physical assistance.

EU leaders, including European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, praised the vote, calling it a “historic day for Europe.” However, rights groups accused the bloc of signing a deal that could cause suffering in the long run. “These reforms will mean less protection and a greater risk of facing human rights violations across Europe—including illegal and violent pushbacks, arbitrary detention, and discriminatory policing,” said Eve Geddie, the head of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office.

Chinese cybercrime. Zambian authorities uncovered a “sophisticated internet fraud syndicate” during a raid on a Chinese-run company outside the capital of Lusaka on Tuesday. Officials arrested 77 people, including 22 Chinese nationals. This is a “significant breakthrough in the fight against cybercrime,” authorities said. The monthslong intelligence mission was led by Zambia’s Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) alongside local police and the nation’s immigration department and antiterrorism unit.

The Chinese company, known as Golden Top Support Services, allegedly used equipment to disguise call agents’ locations to commit internet fraud and other online scams, DEC chief Nason Banda said. People in Singapore, Peru, the United Arab Emirates, and numerous African countries were reportedly targeted. Chinese cyberattacks have increased in recent months, with the United States, United Kingdom, and New Zealand all accusing China of espionage and data theft, among other cyberthreats.

Odds and Ends

After years without a career breakthrough, an aspiring German artist decided to take matters into his own hands. On Feb. 23, a staff member at Munich’s Pinakothek der Moderne’s installation team hung his own artwork in the museum’s modern and contemporary art gallery. The installation shared a space with the likes of pop art icon Andy Warhol for eight hours before museum authorities removed the piece. Pinakothek der Moderne confirmed on Tuesday that the man was fired. “All I can say is that we did not receive any positive feedback on the addition from visitors to the gallery,” the museum’s spokesperson said.