Chronologies
US - Japan
Chronology from Sep 2020 to Dec 2020
: Tomita Koji officially named as Japan’s ambassador to the United States, effective the same day.
: FDA authorizes Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.
: Suga Cabinet approves the building of two new Aegis ships.
: Senior officials from the US, Japan, Australia, and India meet by videoconference to follow up on the Oct. 6 quadrilateral meeting.
: Suga Cabinet announces decision to develop a new long-range missile.
: Pompeo and Motegi speak by telephone.
: Electoral College votes to affirm Biden’s win by a margin of 306 votes to Trump’s 232 votes.
: Supreme Court dismisses Texas lawsuit seeking to overturn the presidential election results in four other states.
: The FDA authorizes the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use.
: Biden announces he will nominate Katherine Tai as US trade representative.
: Defense Minister Kishi Nobuo announces that Japan will build two new Aegis ships as an alternative to its cancelled land-based system.
: Biden announces he will nominate Lloyd Austin as secretary of Defense.
: Newspapers reports indicate that the Japanese government plans to name Ambassador to South Korea Tomita Koji as the next ambassador to the US.
: Commander of US Pacific Fleet Adm. John Aquilino is nominated to be the next commander of US Indo-Pacific Command.
: Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun and Vice Foreign Minister Akiba Takeo speak by telephone.
: Trilateral Vietnam-US-Japan Commercial Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Forum is held in Hanoi, releasing a joint statement.
: Newspaper reports suggest Biden is considering appointing a White House czar for Asia on the National Security Council.
: President-elect Biden announces he will nominate Janet Yellen as Treasury secretary.
: China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi visits Tokyo to meet Suga and Foreign Minister Motegi.
: Biden announces he will nominate Antony Blinken as secretary of state, Jake Sullivan as national security advisor, Alejandro Mayorkas as secretary of homeland security, Avril Haines as director of national intelligence, Linda Thomas-Greenfield as ambassador to the United Nations, and John Kerry as special presidential envoy for climate.
: Suga attends the 23rd Japan-ASEAN Summit Meeting.
: Suga speaks by telephone with President-elect Biden.
: Biden announces Ron Klain will be his chief of staff.
: The US and Japan begin formal negotiations on Host Nation Support.
: Associated Press and other major networks declare Joe Biden the winner of the US presidential election.
: Indian, Japanese, Australia, and US begin joint naval exercises in the Indian Ocean as part of the Malabar exercise.
: The US holds presidential, legislative, and state and local elections.
: The US, Japan, Australia, and Palau announce construction of an undersea fiber optic cable to Palau.
: The 57th Japan-US Business Conference is held via videoconference.
: Second Japan-Korea-US Women’s Trilateral Conference is held via videoconference, releasing a joint statement.
: Prime Minister Suga visits Vietnam and Indonesia.
: Deputy DG for North American Affairs Arima and Department of State Political-Military Bureau Senior Advisor Donna Welton hold preparatory consultations on Japan-US Host Nation Support.
: US, Japan, Australia, Canada, Italy, Luxembourg, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom sign the Artemis Accords on space exploration and utilization.
: Deputy Director General for North American Affairs Arima Yutaka, Deputy Director General for Defense Policy Taro Yamato, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Japan and Korea Marc Knapper, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for East Asian Security Heino Klinck hold bilateral security discussions by videoconference.
: Suga, Pompeo, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne, and Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar attend the second Japan-US-Australian-Indian Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Tokyo.
: Motegi and Pompeo hold a Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Tokyo.
: Pompeo meets with Suga in Tokyo.
: A list of the 210 members for Science Council of Japan’s General Assembly becomes public, revealing that Suga refused to appoint six academics.
: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets National Security Secretariat Secretary General Shigeru Kitamura in Washington, DC.
: Deputy Minister for Foreign Policy Yamada Shigeo, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs David Stilwell, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Affairs Dean Thompson, Australian Deputy Secretary (Indo-Pacific Group) Justin Hayhurst, Indian Joint Secretary (Americas) Vani Rao, and Indian Joint Secretary (East Asia) Naveen Srivastava hold a quadrilateral Japan-US-Australia-India videoconference.
: Japan-US Strategic Energy Partnership (JUSEP) meeting is held via videoconference.
: Suga and President Trump speak by telephone.
: Eleventh meeting of US-Japan Policy Cooperation Dialogue on the Internet Economy is held via videoconference.
: Suga takes office as prime minister of Japan.
: Suga Yoshihide is elected LDP president with 377 of 534 votes.
: G7 foreign ministers, including from the US and Japan, release a joint statement on the poisoning of Alexei Navalny.
: The US and Japan release a joint ministerial statement marking the one-year anniversary of the Japan-US-Mekong Power Partnership (JUMPP).
: Abe says that he will publish a new statement on ballistic missile defense strategy before his planned resignation on Sept. 16.
: Prime Minister Abe Shinzo says that he will publish a new statement on ballistic missile defense strategy before his planned resignation on Sept. 16.