WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is welcoming Japan’s prime minister to the White House in his first face-to-face meeting with a foreign leader. Biden’s choice of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga as his first guest Friday underlines a theme of Biden’s administration — strengthening U.S. alliances as a first step to dealing with global challenges, especially with an increasingly confident and assertive China. The Biden administration calls managing U.S. policies toward the Indo-Pacific the primary U.S. challenge of the 21st century as China under President Xi Jinping asserts growing economic and military power. Suga aims to showcase security commitments with the United States. The Japanese prime minister says, “The Japan-U.S. alliance needs to be strong.”