Japan politics on a precipice but US barely notices – Asia Times

US President Joe Biden will host a much-touted first-time in-person summit meeting of the leaders of the Quad the United States, India, Australia and Japan at the White House on September 24.

For the American president, this is the frontline of a foreign policy clearly aimed at confronting China. The announcement of a secretly negotiated deal to provide nuclear submarines to Australia only underscores the importance of this event.

No one seems to have noticed, however, that the man representing Japan, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, will be gone from office within days of the White House summit.

via asiatimes.com

Somewhat orthogonally, I’ll note again that Biden is not doing such a bad job on his Indo-Pacific relations portfolio. I’m sure Biden does not have much to do with it, beyond reading scripts. However, I’m not sure Trump would have done as well, though he might have. The US has stepped up to the plate with Australia and told the French, none too politely, it’s true, that it’s time for them to take a hike. Good on ‘im.