(Central News Agency) US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are expected to meet in Washington on the 13th, a person involved in the preparations told Reuters on Monday.

This will be the first time that Kishida has attended the US-Japan leaders' meeting at the White House since he took office.

The United States and Japan are facing an increasingly powerful China, while North Korea's repeated missile tests and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's order to double the number of nuclear bombs in the new year are also worrying the United States' allies in East Asia.

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Japan’s Yomiuri Shimbun also quoted Japanese government officials as saying last week that the Japanese and U.S. governments are coordinating to hold a leadership meeting between Fumio Kishida and Biden in Washington on January 13. During the meeting, Kishida will explain to Biden that the Japanese government has revised the “national It is hoped that the content of the three documents, including the "Security Strategy" and Japan's decision to substantially increase defense spending, will help deepen the Japan-US alliance.

The Japanese government announced the 2023 budget last month, which will increase defense spending by more than a quarter, including the purchase of US-made Tomahawk cruise missiles for US$1.6 billion.

It is part of Japan's largest military buildup since World War II and will allow Japan to boost military spending to deter regional rivals China and North Korea amid regional tensions over the Russo-Ukrainian war.

The White House declined to comment on its unannounced plans for the talks, and the Japanese embassy in Washington declined to confirm a date for the talks.

Kishida and Biden held sideline talks at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit on November 13 last year. At the time of escalation, he agreed to strengthen the US-Japan alliance.

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