TOKYO (Dispatches) -- U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Japan on Sunday, as protesters took to the streets here against the planned U.S.-Japan summit and the summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (the Quad).
A series of meetings are scheduled during Biden’s three-day visit to Japan, following his trip to South Korea, including the summit of the Quad group involving Japan, Australia and India, during which the United States is expected to hustle the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF).
Japanese public opinion, however, seemingly does not favor the IPEF too much.
Japanese media reported that the IPEF has no specific content such as tariff reduction, so it cannot bring visible economic benefits to participating members.
Takakage Fujita, director-general of a civil group dedicated to upholding and developing the Murayama Statement, said in an interview with Xinhua that the United States cooked up the IPEF to use Japan and ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) countries for the benefit of its own.
Fujita said that if the U.S. truly wants to pursue peace and development in Asia, it should follow a coordinated and friendly approach and come up with decent economic ideas.
On Sunday afternoon, around 750 people took to the streets of Tokyo to demonstrate against the upcoming U.S.-Japan summit and the summit of the Quad group.
Tokyo authorities beefed up security and traffic control, mobilizing around 18,000 police officers.
On Saturday, South Koreans organized spontaneous rallies to protest Biden’s visit which they believe is set to stoke tensions and war in the Korean Peninsula.
In capital Seoul, people crowded in front of both the Grand Hyatt Seoul hotel and the presidential office nearby in Seoul’s Yongsan District, where Biden was staying.
Cordoning off the area in front of Biden’s hotel, police said they had assembled some 7,200 officers from 120 divisions on Saturday for maintaining security as the two presidents held the summit.
The protesters said their government should not intensify initiatives such as U.S.-South Korea military cooperation and certain aggressive military strategies, but should instead choose peace and cooperation.
Biden and new South Korean
President Yoon Suk-yeol said following their summit that they agreed to consider expanding the scope and scale of their joint military exercises.
U.S., Japan, Australia, and India will unveil a maritime initiative at the Quad summit in Tokyo to curb illegal fishing in the Indo-Pacific, the Financial Times reported on Saturday, citing a U.S. official.
They said that the maritime initiative will use satellite technology to create a tracking system for illegal fishing from the Indian Ocean to the South Pacific by connecting surveillance centers in Singapore and India.
Biden is visiting Japan to attend the meeting of the Quad group of countries - Australia, India, Japan and the United States in Tokyo- which have increased cooperation with the aim of confronting China.
According to the Financial Times report, the maritime initiative will enable these countries to monitor illegal fishing even when the boats have turned off the transponders which are typically used to track vessels.
The U.S.-Indo Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell had said earlier this month that United States will soon announce plans to battle illegal fishing in the U.S.