By Stacey Lennox
On Friday, President Joe Biden was supposed to welcome the first international head of state to visit the White House during his administration. According to the staffer who runs the president’s Twitter account, Biden was looking forward to this press avail:
I’m looking forward to welcoming my friend Prime Minister Suga to the White House this afternoon for the first foreign leader visit of my presidency — and to renewing the historic alliance between the United States and Japan.
— President Biden (@POTUS) April 16, 2021
I’m not sure what it is about our alliance with Japan that needs renewing. It’s been pretty solid for decades, and President Donald Trump was a staunch ally against Chinese aggression, the biggest threat to the island nation. There were actually protests in Japan on Inauguration Day 2021. The New York Post credits President Trump’s close relationship with former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his willingness to stand up to China as the reason for his support in Japan.