TOKYO (Reuters) -Outgoing Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is finalising plans to visit the U.S. in late September for the U.N. General Assembly and a possible meeting with President Joe Biden, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Saturday.
The visit may take place for several days starting on Sept. 22, the report said, citing multiple government sources it did not identify.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry, in response to a request for comment from Reuters, said “nothing has been decided yet”.
Kishida on Wednesday dropped out of the leadership race for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, meaning he will step down as prime minister when his term as party leader ends in late September.
The date of the LDP election is not yet set. It could be as early as Sept. 20, in which case Kishida would likely address the General Assembly after Japan’s parliament, where the LDP has a majority, has chosen his replacement as prime minister, according to the Yomiuri.
Some in the Japanese government think it best if Kishida’s successor does not develop close ties with Biden, who is due to leave office in January, the newspaper said.
Biden, who dropped out of November’s U.S. presidential election, was replaced as the Democratic Party nominee last month by Vice President Kamala Harris. She faces the Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump.
(Reporting by Sakura Murakami in Tokyo; Editing by William Mallard, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Jan Harvey)
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