U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday commended outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for transforming the country's role in the global security field and helping form closer trilateral relations involving South Korea.
"Guided by unflinching courage and moral clarity, Prime Minister Kishida has transformed Japan's role in the world," Biden said in a statement.
During his tenure, which began in October 2021, Kishida worked to drastically increase annual defense outlays and advance policy revisions to allow the Japanese Self-Defense Forces more options in the event of a contingency, even under the war-renouncing Constitution.
"He unveiled a momentous new national security strategy," Biden said.
The U.S. leader also said that Kishida, together with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, has taken "historic steps" toward a new era of trilateral cooperation between Washington and its key security allies in Asia, Tokyo and Seoul.
Kishida attended a trilateral summit with Biden and Yoon at Camp David near the U.S. capital a year ago, highlighting the close three-way partnership as well as an improvement in Tokyo-Seoul ties, which had been soured for years over differences related to bilateral history.
In April this year, Kishida delivered a speech to Congress, becoming the first Japanese leader to do so in nine years, reiterating the importance of the alliance with the United States in the face of challenges such as China's growing assertiveness and Russia's invasion of its neighboring country, launched in 2022.
Earlier, U.S. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said at a press conference that Kishida "has been an extraordinary friend to the United States" and expressed the country's appreciation for "his steadfast partnership and his visionary leadership."
Kishida on Wednesday made an abrupt announcement that he will not seek reelection as president of his ruling Liberal Democratic Party, meaning he will not continue as prime minister beyond next month's leadership vote.
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