position thus far. probably in various regions, equal opportunities were not fully insured for women. we have quite a short history of ensuring that. so what we are trying to do is actively issue opportunities for women. >> this concludes the press conference. the presidents of the two countries will leave the room first. pres. biden: thank you. >> this concludes the joint press conference. we have others scheduled later on. we would like to thank the journalists once again for their time here and also for constructive questions. thank you. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2022] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

>> "washington journal" continues. host: a focus now on president biden's trip to south korea and japan. our guest is shihoko goto, deputy director of the wilson center's asian program. what is the goal of this trip, and why is this trip happening right now when there is so much else going on in the world, especially in eastern europe? guest: i can answer that in one sentence. to say that america is back. america is back as a pacific power. if biden can actually deliver that message and have people believe him, his trip will have been a success. but as you said, this whole trip comes at a time when the united states is mired in a relationship with russia, great instability in europe, a lot of

expectations to really address issues across the atlantic. can actually be engaged in asia, in the indo pacific? certainly there is a lot of demand on the part of the united states's allies and partners because there is a very real existential threat that comes from china. there is also the immediate right of north korea and the uncertainties it provides too, but if biden can actually say that the united states can play on multiple fronts, that it remains committed to europe, to european security, but also to asian security as well as economic stability, then he will have succeeded. host: three days in south korea, then president biden moves on to the -- to japan. in your mind who is the more important audience here? is the people of south korea, japan, or china and north korea and their leaders? guest: i would say all of the above, what item really needs to

do is make sure that seoul and tokyo feel they are equally loved by washington and both equally important in this long-term challenge china poses on multiple fronts. host: what are the highlights of the trip in your mind? we saw president take a tour of one of these chip factories, semi conductor factories. what are the highlights you are going to be watching for? guest: the fact that straight off the plane he goes to the semiconductor manufacturing company samsung is a tremendous symbolism of the united states being committed to working with partners, wanting to get korean commitment to ensure there is stability in the chip sector. we have had a lot of disruptions doing covid. we are going to need more chips. it is a technology that will only increase in need as we become more integrated,

digitally, and the united states is not making them enough. by going there i think that that has shed light on the need for economic security. i will also be looking at some of the other visits he will be making. yes, the bilateral meetings he has with the new korean president, to be sure, a face-to-face meeting with the japanese prime minister. but the big thing will be two things. one is the quadrilateral summit meeting between not just japan and the united states, but also india and a new australian prime minister who will be elected on sunday. in the launch of a u.s. economic vision called the indo pacific economic framework. host: you mentioned the new south korean president during a picture of president biden from the wall street journal this morning touring the samsung factory. what should viewers know about resident unit? -- president yoon.

guest: he is not a professional politician. he is a prosecutor by training. he has an agenda where he really needs to ensure that he is up to the meetings and national challenges that the koreans face, but also korea does really want to work closely with the united states. korea wants to play a bigger global role. host: we are talking about president biden's trip to south korea and japan. if you have questions, thoughts on the u.s. relationship to the region now would be a great time to call in. the lines split as usual. democrats, (202) 748-8000 is the number. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. as folks are calling in, another story about what is going on in the region. experts worry north korea will

not accept help. president biden was asked about that specifically, and about meeting with the leadership in north korea at his joint press conference earlier today. here's what president biden had to say. pres. biden: the answer with regard to, what i meet, what i provide vaccines -- would i meet, what i provide vaccines for north korea, what i prepare to meet? yes, we have offered scenes not only to north korea but china as well. we are prepared to do that immediately. we have got no response. regard to whether i would meet with the leader of north korea, that would be dependent on whether he was sincere and whether it was serious. host: shihoko goto, your thoughts on the idea of president biden meeting with kim jong-un, and explain what is going on with covid in north korea. guest: regarding covid, north

korea had been able to stave off the covid onslaught, but it seems like it is really picking up, and most of the people there are not vaccinated. it is not from the lack of trying on the part of western powers to try to provide vaccines for the north korea, but they simply are not accepting, and so that will be a challenge. member that north korea, although it is very isolated, it does share a border with both south korea and china, and it can be porous. so there is this great concern about north korea actually being this hotbed of yet another wave of the coronavirus. regarding impossibility of biden having a meeting, with north korean leadership, of course the trump administration really started engagement, we engagement with -- reengagement

with north korea. the process of that seems less likely given that the meetings have not led to the kind of results that the united states and its allies have wanted to see. that is to say, there has been this need for north korea to denuclearize, ratchet down its military aspirations. the opposite is actually true. so, the incentive, providing vaccines, providing financial aid, none of that have worked. overtures diplomatically have not worked. so why should we expect a different result by doing the same thing? host: we expect president biden to participate in a ceremony to honor both american can and republic of korean soldiers who died in the war, but president biden not set to go to the demilitarized zone. is there an expectation that if

it american presidents are over there they should go to the dmz? guest: there has been expectations he would go, and i believe it was in the initial itinerary. but given the risks and logistical issues that occur with it, i think it is prudent for him to just continue with the itinerary as planned. host: shihoko goto with us this morning from the wilson center. deputy director of the asia program. taking your phone calls and questions about u.s. policy in the asia-pacific region. steve is up first out of san jose. line for republicans. good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. ms. goto, i would like to know your opinion on an issue. regarding taiwan and president biden. i am so concerned that if china should invade taiwan that we will not defend it.

and, specifically we will not come to their aid because of the financial entanglements that we have with china. another example would be the pharmaceutical industry. we get 90% of our pharmaceuticals from china. and also one other issue is the black male issue. regarding hunter biden, his laptop, and his dealings with china that they might threaten to expose. so, please comment on that for me. guest: yeah. on taiwan, i could not agree with you more in so far -- insofar as taiwan is on the minds of those in the region, as well as the united states. as i said at the beginning, what is happening right now in

ukraine is really keeping the white house very much engaged on the european theater. but one of the topics for discussion of great concern is that, what are the lessons to be learned at this stage from the invasion of ukraine the russians? for asia. the consensus seems to be that china will not see moving into taiwan as a cakewalk. so hopefully this has staved off china from immediately taking any kind of action towards taiwan. for now. but that doesn't change the fact that china does see taiwan as a critical national interest. that it sees a reunification with taiwan as one of its core national interests. and it is prepared to take action and towards that ultimate goal sooner or later.

i think we have pushed that to a later stage, hopefully, but what the united states has been doing is that it has been enhancing its's -- it's rhetorical support for taiwan. it has given taiwan greater military support. i hope is it will also provide greater economic partnerships by furthering relations between the united states and taiwan as well. i should point out that taiwan dominates the semiconductor industry in the world. it is the single biggest producer of advanced chips. and so that alone makes it a tremendous partner for the united states. but when it comes to this whole invasion issue, should china take military action against taiwan, will the united states come to its defense? how will it come to its defense?

expectations will the united states have an coordination with its partners, such as japan? japan has a pacifist constitution, but will it actually worked together with the united states in defense of taiwan? these are some of the questions that will be very much in the minds of leadership this weekend, and it will be discussed in great detail. so, to what extent we will actually get any public statements about it i do not know, but i do know that there will be a mention of taiwan and there will certainly always be this verbal commitment to protect taiwan's economy and prosperity. host: why verbal commitment? is there a formal treaty on that? guest: so, one of the problems, of course, is that the united states does not officially recognize taiwan. that if there is a china, that

goes to beijing, the prc. they are trying to do is be able to ensure support for taiwan whilst also not upsetting the apple cart. this is called the strategic ambiguity strategy on the part of the united states. there is a great call right now for strategic clarity so that there is a better understanding of what exactly the expectations are and what u.s. commitment to taiwan may be. host: book -- brooklyn, new york. this is chris, a democrat. good money. caller: the u.s. has 50,000 troops in japan, the most of anywhere outside the u.s. why does that make sense? guest: well, it makes sense insofar as the japanese bases becomes a foothold for the united states across the indo pacific. if there is a issue in taiwan if

there is an issue regarding north korea, if there are problems in the south china sea, east china sea regarding chinese aggression to the united states, united states does not have to come all the way from where we are now. has this space, this firm foothold in japan to make it easier, logistically, for a greater u.s. presence. and i would argue that it is in america's national interest to remain committed to protecting the stability of the region, because the united states is so integrated to the region as well. host: silver spring, maryland. this is marie, and. good morning. caller: good morning. my question is kind of like the last question. i'm wondering why the u.s. still has such a huge military presence in south korea and is paying for the vast majority of it when south korea is a very rich country and they have their own military? guest: i think that was an argument that was certainly made

tremendously by the trump administration. and the argument is that, actually they are paying for a lot of the costs incurred by the u.s. troops, and they get all sorts of benefits as well i being stationed in south korea, as well as in japan. the bigger question, though, is to what extent should that financial burden be borne in terms of the actual military equipment, by korea, as well as japan? they are both certainly prepared to increase spending, and i think in the case of japan they are actually, now talking about doubling its military defense expenditure, so there is this expectation both from the united states, but also from the governments in the region itself to say that this region is a

very dangerous place right now. and all hands need to be on deck, and there needs to be greater financial commitment, but also more boots on the ground. and that is not just american military, it also japanese and korean military personnel as well. host: a question from the pages of the wall street journal this money. who won the u.s.-china trade war? they wrote that neither country got the concessions they thought and damage their economies. vietnam and the others who stepped in to that breach. what do you think? guest: i think neither one. i think the trade war is ongoing, but the ultimate goal of the trade war was not simply about increasing exports or decreasing the imports we might get from china. it really is about boosting the american economy and boosting economic resilience of the

united states. that is as much a domestic economic agenda as it is a trade issue. what i think the trade war has done is that it has led to a lot of reconsideration of the united states about its trade objectives. washington is now coming up with this new economic plan so that it can focus on issues that are not simply about boosting imports or decreasing imports and boosting exports. it really is about supply chain resiliency, incentives for decarbonization, and more sustainable and environmentally friendly industries and technologies that emerge. greater coordination on corruption -- against corruption and taxation harmonization. these are the kind of issues the united states does need to push forward with, and i think we are seeing some momentum forward in

that direction. host: whatever happened to the transpacific partnership, and could you see something like that coming back? guest: asia definitely wants america to join the new transpacific partnership, which is called the cptpp. host: cptpp, got it. guest: as you may recall, the united states pulled out of the tpp, with the advent of the trump administration. but the biden administration has not made any overtures to move forward on rejoining either. multilateral trade deals are very unpopular in washington, on both sides of the political aisle. but economic security in asia is national security. it means to not just economic -- leads to not just economic

competitiveness, but is an important part of ensuring their future growth. if there are opportunities for trade relations to be enhanced, every opportunity should be seized. host: if the tpp was being pushed by the obama administration one president biden was vice president, what changed? guest: the world has changed insofar as there is a lack of appetite on the part of the united states to work multilaterally on the trade front. however, the world has also changed insofar as the united states is actually an outlier. we see the tpp moving forward. we see another trade agreement in asia emerging called the r sap. we see europe trying to come up with new trade deals as well. there is a huge appetite in the world for new partnerships, new ways to work together at the united states is really not part of the mix at the moment. host: richmond, virginia.

thanks for waiting. caller: yes, good morning. this is what you said. i am a history buff. russia and japan have war. that is one of the reasons russia did not declare war on japan. when world war ii started. russia declared war on japan after world war ii. in asia, in north korea and south korea, got japan. it was always a question about why the united states did not want china to attack japan. that is a fact. host: let's talk about russia -japanese relations now. guest: japan became the first asian country to beat a western power, that is to say russia at the turn of the 20th century. host: the russo japanese war.

guest: the russo japanese war. so japan and russia have -- that has been one of the key developments in bilateral relations. but as was pointed out, the -- towards the end of world war ii russia joined the allied forces, and it actually took some of the -- what the japanese called the northern territories, the islands in the north of japan. japan actually does not have a formal peace treaty with russia today. -- to date. the reason why japan did not take a strong stance against putin and he invaded crimea is because there has been this great need for japan -- at least claim part of those islands russia has occupied, has claimed sense 1945 -- since 1945.

there has been hope that japan could get at least two of those islands. there is still no peace treaty. negotiations for territorial claims we consider asian is still on ice. by joining with the united states and europe in defending ukraine, i think japan's relations with russia are still kind of on hold as well. host: what do we need to know about japanese prime minister from yoshida? guest: he has great experience in the japanese government. he has held a number of ministerial posts, including foreign minister. he is a man who originally comes from hiroshima. that has been one of his defining moral compasses, to say

that when we talk about nuclear proliferation or buildup of the nuclear arms race he will say, i'm from hiroshima and i am loath to go into this idea of nuclear arms race. which is becoming increasingly a much-discussed topic, as you know. there is no nato equivalent in asia. but there is a great deal of talk about enhancing regional military partnerships. there is also discussions about which countries could actually consider housing some of the nuclear arms the united states may want to have in the region. so this becomes this big issue in regional -- in the region. and i think that, again, this will be one of the topics for the -- for discussion at the

quad as well as the bilateral. host: massachusetts. thanks for waiting. go ahead. caller: thank you very much. i have a couple of questions for you. one is in a tour like this, how does it operate? the mechanics of it? does president biden have a linguist that speaks japanese or korean, or one of the chinese languages to tell him, or does everyone assume they are going to speak english? the other thing i was wondering is, are you going to bring up anything about the territorial ambitions of china in the vicinity of the philippines? and finally, does someone from your olson center asia program accompanied this or do you make the independent analysis at the finish of it? ask for considering my question. host: dues don't want -- do you want to start with the last part, the wilson center? guest: the wilson center was

established as an act of congress. it is an independent tank, but whilst we provide analysis, we are not part of any government, and we are not part of the biden administration. we are not traveling with it. but what we do have is great access to those on the hill and those in the administration. so, we have had a lot of discussions with administration people before the trip. i have had a lot of discussions with those in economic posts in particular about some of the issues that should or could be on the table. so, -- host: the questions were on the mechanics of the trip, then china and the philippines. guest: interpretation. they have professional interpreters on site. so they have simultaneous interpretation, but i think that is an interesting question,

because we talk about, for instance, the united states having a special relationship, of course that goes back to decades, centuries of close work and cooperation. but there is that kind of language and visibility to connect people without the need for an interpreter. i think it does, unfortunately, i don't think either the japanese or the south korean leaders are able to speak english at the level they not need an interpreter, and so things will not get lost in translation so there will be interpreters. a little bit that immediate rapport maybe sacrificed as a result of that filter. i'm territorial disputes, china

has territorial claims in the south sign a she -- south china sea. certain plea the ongoing claims -- certainly the ongoing claims to the south china sea will be an issue. host: ted has been waiting a while in miami, florida. caller: could you tell me a little bit of taiwan's history and has it ever been a territory and a part of china and if china invades taiwan, will japan help defend it? thank you. guest: basically it comes from

during the mile area of china -- the mau era in china and study it own independent government, independent from the communist government of china. what has happened is most countries in the world, the exception of 14 countries, acknowledge china to be the china that represents all china, including taiwan. this becomes a tremendous challenge because officially the united states does not recognize taiwan as a country. for instance, there is no taiwanese embassy in washington. taiwan's interests are represented by eight representative office.

so there is this really complicated issue of being able to use the right language and describe taiwan that is a country but effectively acting as an independent government, for instance a member of the united nations and that has been a tremendous challenge for taiwan. host: who are some of the 14 who have taken the step to officially recognize taiwan? guest: most are in latin america and the pacific islands. some would argue that these are countries that really depend greatly on taiwanese development of systems, so the motivation is

to get more money. they can manipulate that and say, well, if you don't give us what we needed, we will turn to the chinese. that puts taiwan in a tough spot. at the same time it does give taiwan more recognition in the international community. host: shihoko goto is the deputy director at the wilson cente