By Farrukh Abadi
On April 10, President Biden hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for an official state dinner aimed at cementing US imperialist hegemony and countering the growing threat of social-imperialist China to US and Japanese imperialism. In total, around 70 pacts around military cooperation were established, including upgrading their military command, increasing their partnership in the production of military equipment, and including Japan in a regional military alliance with Australia, the US. and the UK aimed at producing military equipment and infrastructure. They also established their plans for the lateral investment of billions of dollars around research and technology in military-related spheres spearheaded by the leading billionaires of both countries, who were present for the dinner.
Attendees included imperialists Jeff Bezos, CEO of Apple Tim Cook, CEO of JP Morgan Jamie Dimon, CEO of BlackRock Larry Fink, President of the World Bank Ajay Banga, politicians and bureaucrats Bill and Hillary Clinton, Democrat Hakeem Jeffries, Director of the CIA William Burns, and union leaders Brent Booker, president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, and UAW President Shawn Fain.
In reference to the meeting, Biden said, “This is the most significant upgrade of our alliance since it was first established.”
Although the US has limited Japan’s defense budget and imperialist ventures around the world, Kishida has actively supported US foreign policy in return for a more privileged position for the second-rate imperialist. Kishida confirmed his obedience to US imperialism in a statement to Congress on Thursday, saying “The international order that the U.S. worked for generations to build is facing new challenges, challenges from those with values and principles very different from ours.”
In late 2022, Kishida doubled Japan’s military budget from 1% to 2% of its GDP as part of the trend of growing imperialist contention.
Despite all the talk of a new “era” of cooperation between Japan and the US, contention still remains between the two powers. The purchase of US Steel by Japanese steel monopoly Nippon in December 2023 was opposed by several US capitalists and politicians, including Biden, on the grounds that it threatens US national security.
On Thursday, Biden and Kishida met with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the first time leaders of the three countries have met. The three of them further cemented plans to encircle China through increased US and Japanese hegemony in the region via military and economic deals. Last year, the US took over 4 military bases in the Philippines under the rule of Marcos Jr. in a naked act of colonial expansion, nearly doubling the amount of bases they have access to in the country.
The US has labeled China as its most threatening rival that can upset the US’s role as the sole hegemonic imperialist power in the long-term. Biden’s policies represent the continuation of previous presidents’ measures aimed at curbing Chinese social-imperialism and bolstering US dominance in the Pacific region, such as Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership and Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement and Trump’s tariffs on China and the Abraham Accords.
Over the last few decades, China has established itself as a social-imperialist country with wide range, playing a leading role in a number of predatory economic, political, and military deals with countries across the world such as the Belt and Road Initiative, BRICS, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
The growing contention between China and the US continues to play out internationally in an intensifying struggle to redivide colonies and semi-colonies among themselves while deepening alliances and rifts with other imperialists, all within the scope of heightened militarization in preparation for the possibility of major conflict.
photo: Screenshot from the C-Span broadcast of the trilateral meeting in the White Hosue
