U.S. President Joe Biden agreed with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to confront China in his first face-to-face White House summit since taking office.
"Today Prime Minister Suga and I affirmed our ironclad support for the U.S.-Japanese alliance and for our shared security," Biden told a joint news conference in the White House Rose Garden, describing the discussions as "productive."
"We committed to working together to take on the challenges from China and on issues like the East China Sea, the South China Sea, as well as North Korea, to ensure a future of a free and open Indo Pacific," Biden affirmed.
The talks also included China's increased military movements near Taiwan, in addition to its tightening grip on Hong Kong and its crackdown on Muslim Uighurs in Xinjiang.
Furthermore, Suga revealed that he and Biden agreed on the necessity of candid discussions with China in the context of Beijing's activities in the Indo-Pacific region.
In a firm statement on Saturday, China's embassy in Washington said Beijing was "resolutely opposed" to the joint statement, adding that Taiwan, Hong Kong and Xinjiang were China's internal affairs.
The remarks have "completely gone beyond the scope of the normal development of bilateral relations", harming the interests of third parties as well as peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific, the embassy said.
Moreover, it noted that this move was an attempt to split the region which "will inevitably proceed with the purpose of harming others and end in harming themselves."
The summit came just days after China sent 25 aircraft, including fighters and nuclear-capable bombers, near Taiwan, which Beijing considers a wayward province.
"I refrain from mentioning details, since it pertains to diplomatic exchanges, but there is already an agreed recognition over the importance of peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait between Japan and the United States, which was reaffirmed on this occasion," Japan's PM said.
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