
TOKYO -- Seven months after Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida promised U.S. President Joe Biden to "fundamentally reinforce" Japan's defense capabilities, their respective foreign and defense ministers will meet in Washington on Wednesday to discuss progress on the matter.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will host Japanese counterparts Yoshimasa Hayashi and Yasukazu Hamada at the State Department for a U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee, or two-plus-two, meeting.