U.S. President Barack Obama has invited Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for an “official visit,” not a state visit as announced by National Security Adviser Susan Rice, a White House official said Sunday.
Rice said Friday that Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping have been invited for state visits and the U.S. looks forward to welcoming South Korean President Park Geun-hye, Indonesian President Joko Widodo and other Asian leaders to the White House this year.
“The president has invited Prime Minster Abe for an official visit to the White House,” said Patrick Ventrell, a spokesman at the National Security Council. “We are still determining a mutually convenient date for the visit, but we are delighted at the prospect of hosting the prime minister.”
The spokesman said that an official visit is the “functional equivalent of a state visit, and reflects Prime Minister Abe’s stature as head of the Japanese government.”
“We will share more details as they become available. This will be a terrific opportunity to showcase the contributions of the U.S.-Japan relationship to global peace and prosperity,” the official said. (Yonhap)
