UPDATE 1-Biden says Japan and U.S. committed to working together to meet China challenge

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WASHINGTON, April 16 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden said he had a productive summit with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday and the two countries were committed to working together to meet the challenge posed by China and issues including North Korea.

Biden spoke at a White House news conference after an afternoon of talks with Suga, the first in-person summit of his presidency.

Biden said the two countries had agreed to work together on 5G, semi-conductor supply chains, artificial intelligence, genomics and quantum computing.

"Today Prime Minister Suga and I affirmed our ironclad support for the U.S.-Japanese alliance, and for our shared security," Biden said.

"We committed to working together to take on the challenges from China and on issues like the East China Sea, the South China Sea, as well as North Korea, to ensure a future of a free and open Indo-Pacific," Biden said. (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Mohammad Zargham and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Leslie Adler and Chris Reese)