By SETH ROBSON | STARS AND STRIPES Published: January 21, 2021
TOKYO – America’s most important allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region, along with its greatest strategic rival, took to social media to congratulate President Joe Biden on his inauguration Wednesday.
Biden, 78, took the oath of office outside the U.S. Capitol at noon that day, taking over for a Trump administration that played hardball with Japan and South Korea in an effort to get them to pay more for their own defense; started a trade war with an increasingly aggressive China; and held summit meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in an unsuccessful attempt to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula.