Emanuel made the remark at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event in Washington days before U.S. President Joe Biden hosts Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr for a summit.

Japan's ambassador to the U.S. Yamada Shigeo told the event that Biden and Kishida would discuss cooperation in space, energy, and emerging technologies like AI quantum computing.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina, Editing by Franklin Paul)