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u.s. news Diasabra 17 aPriL 2021

Biden meets Japan's leader to boost China-facing alliances

(AP) — President Joe Biden was welcoming “The Japan-U.S. alliance needs to be strong," he to balance competition and cooperation,” said Akio
Japan’s prime minister to the White House on added. Takahara, a professor and China expert at the Uni-
Friday in his first face-to-face meeting with a versity of Tokyo.
foreign leader, a choice that reflects Biden's The months-old Biden administration, for its part,
emphasis on strengthening alliances to deal looks to Suga to keep going on alliance-strengthen- Japan considers China’s growing military activity
with a more assertive China and other global ing moves by both countries. as well as its broad territorial claims to be a security
challenges. threat. Japan is itself locked in a dispute with Chi-
The two governments have been working to na over Beijing’s claim to the Japanese-controlled
Biden and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga also strengthen technology supply chains indepen- Senkaku Islands, called Diaoyu in China, in the
look to counter messaging from Chinese President dent of China during a shortage of semiconduc- East China Sea.
Xi Jinping that America and democracies in gen- tors that's worrying businesses around the world.
eral are on the decline, after the political turmoil Japan is expected to announce an investment in 5G Elsewhere, Tokyo has watched with concern as
and international withdrawal that marked Donald cellular networks, boosting alternatives to China's China has built military installations on disputed
Trump’s presidency. network, as part of that supply chain cooperation. territory it claims in the South China Sea.

The Biden administration calls managing U.S. pol- Both countries are expected in coming days to U.S. ships regularly conduct so-called freedom
icies toward the Indo-Pacific, where China under make deeper commitments to cutting climate- of navigation operations, sailing into international
Xi is flexing growing economic and military power, wrecking fossil fuel emissions, in line with Biden’s waters that China claims as its own.
the primary challenge for the United States. That climate summit with 40 world leaders next week.
helped guide Biden's decision, announced this President Barack Obama was seen as cajoling Chi-
week, to pull U.S. troops out of Afghanistan and The Biden administration may also have tougher na, in hopes of encouraging reforms. After initially
free the administration to focus more on East Asia. requests of Japan, including pressing Suga for a praising Xi, Trump later took on China head-on
rare public statement of support from a Japanese and solo, with tariffs and insults, while building a
For Biden and Suga, “our approach to China and leader for Taiwan. China, which claims the self- golf-buddy relationship with Suga’s predecessor,
our shared coordination and cooperation on that governed island of Taiwan as its territory, tested Abe.
front will be part of the discussion,” press secretary U.S. and Taiwanese resolve weeks into the Biden
Jen Psaki said Thursday. The two will discuss other administration by sending fighter jets and bombers Biden has taken a different approach, reaching out
regional security issues, including North Korea's near Taiwan. to allies to try to form united fronts.
nuclear program. Japan long has moved cautiously on steps that
might worsen relations with China, though Suga China also has taken note of the Biden adminis-
Suga, a farmer’s son who rose to Japan’s highest has been more outspoken. His administration tration's support for reviving a loose four-country
political office after an early stint as a worker in a pushed its comfort zone in a statement stressing coalition with Japan, India and Australia, known
cardboard factory, succeeded boss Shinzo Abe last “peace and stability” on the Taiwan Strait. That as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad.
September, after long serving as his chief Cabinet came during a visit last month by Secretary of State Biden and Suga on Friday are expected to an-
secretary. Tony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, nounce steps through the Quad framework to help
which was the Biden administration's highest-level India produce COVID-19 vaccines.
Suga expressed eagerness to meet with Biden early face-to-face meeting at the time.
on despite global COVID-19 lockdowns. The pan- Formed initially to coordinate relief efforts after
demic is changing the normal routine for a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned his the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the Quad had
a foreign leader, so that Biden won't be hosting Japanese counterpart in a call ahead of Suga's visit faded away for a time in part over concerns that its
Suga for a meal, Psaki said. to see to it that China-Japan relations “do not get existence would provoke China, by suggesting the
involved in the so-called confrontation between four countries were ganging up against it, noted
Suga looks to showcase security commitments major countries,” according to a Chinese govern- Tanvi Madan, an expert on India and its relations
with the United States, Japan’s only treaty ally. He ment readout. in the Indo-Pacific at the Brookings Institution.
expected to be “discussing a wide range of chal-
lenges ... and reconfirm the bond of our alliance,” Japan's economy is intertwined with China's. That But “lately, all the things we worried about that
he said Friday at a meeting with Vice President Ka- means even “with security concerns on the rise, Ja- China would do if they were provoked, they're al-
mala Harris, ahead of his talks with Biden. pan would have to take a two-pronged approach ready doing anyway,” Madan said.

Garland rescinds Trump-era memo curtailing consent decrees

(AP) — Attorney General Garland issued a new memo- orities to focus more on civil Democrats have long argued didn’t totally ban pattern or
Merrick Garland on Fri- randum to all U.S. attorneys rights issues, criminal justice the ability of the Justice De- practice investigations under
day rescinded a Trump- and other Justice Department overhauls and policing poli- partment’s civil rights divi- Trump, but former Attorney
era memo that curtailed leaders spelling out the new cies in the wake of nation- sion to conduct sweeping General William Barr sug-
the use of consent decrees policies on civil agreements wide protests over the death probes of police departments gested they may have been
that federal prosecutors and consent decrees with of Black Americans at the had been curtailed under previously overused.
have used in sweeping in- state and local governments. hands of law enforcement. President Donald Trump.
vestigations of police de- The so-called pattern or prac- As attorney general in the
partments. The memo comes as the Jus- In easing restrictions placed tice investigations examine Obama administration, Eric
tice Department shifts its pri- on the use of consent de- whether systemic deficien- Holder frequently criticized
crees, the Justice Depart- cies contribute to miscon- violent police confrontations
ment is making it easier for duct or enable it to persist. and opened a series of civil
its prosecutors to use the rights investigations into lo-
tool to force changes at po- “This memorandum makes cal law enforcement practic-
lice departments and other clear that the Department es. The civil rights investiga-
government agencies with will use all appropriate legal tions often ended with court-
widespread abuse and mis- authorities to safeguard civil approved consent decrees
conduct. rights and protect the en- that mandated reforms.
vironment, consistent with
The memo in particular re- longstanding Departmental The consent decrees in-
scinds a previous memo is- practice and informed by the cluded those with the police
sued by then-Attorney Gen- expertise of the Department’s in Ferguson, Missouri, after
eral Jeff Sessions shortly be- career workforce,” Garland the killing of Michael Brown
fore he resigned in Novem- said. and in Baltimore following
ber 2018. the police custody death of
The Justice Department 25-year-old Freddie Gray.