By RYO KIYOMIYA/ Correspondent
May 10, 2023 at 15:07 JST
President Joe Biden speaks to the media following a meeting with Congressional leaders about preventing a first-ever government default on May 9 in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo)
WASHINGTON--U.S. President Joe Biden dropped plans for a historic visit to Nagasaki during his trip to Japan for the Group of Seven summit on May 19-21 due to another commitment, sources said.
The White House announced on May 9 that Biden will visit Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific after attending the G-7 summit in Hiroshima.
The Japanese and U.S. governments were considering plans for Biden to visit Nagasaki, a city devastated by U.S. atomic bombing during World War II along with Hiroshima.
If the Nagasaki stop had materialized, Biden would have become the first sitting U.S. president to visit the city.
Instead, Biden will leave for Papua New Guinea immediately after the G-7 summit. The Pacific island country already announced that it will receive a visit by Biden on May 22.
Biden has championed “a world without nuclear weapons” as a goal by taking over the banner from former U.S. President Barack Obama.
Biden and the other G-7 leaders are expected to visit the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum on the sidelines of the summit.
Still, Biden is unlikely to make a specific call for nuclear disarmament from the atomic-bombed city.
He is facing domestic pressure to reinforce the U.S. nuclear deterrence as Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to use nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine and China has built up its nuclear capabilities.
With his trip to Papua New Guinea, Biden will become the first sitting U.S. president to visit a Pacific island country.
In Papua New Guinea, he is expected to meet with leaders of other Pacific island states in an apparent attempt to counter China, which has been extending its influence in the region.
After Papua New Guinea, Biden will head to Australia for the May 24 summit of the Quad grouping of Japan, the United States, Australia and India.
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