WASHINGTON, April 10 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe

Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will showcase a

strong and growing partnership during a White House state visit

on Wednesday focused on joint defense cooperation to deter an

aggressive China.

The summit kicks off with an official arrival ceremony on

the White House South Lawn, followed by a closed-door meeting, a

joint news conference planned for the Rose Garden, a state

dinner and a performance by musician Paul Simon.

Kishida will address the U.S. Congress on Thursday and

join Biden and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for a

meeting expected to focus on Beijing's South China Sea

incursions.

The U.S. and Japan have hammered out about 70 agreements on

defense cooperation, including moves to upgrade the U.S.

military command structure in Japan to make it better able to

work with Japanese forces in a crisis.

Biden and Kishida are also expected to announce steps to

allow more joint development of military and defense equipment.

The two leaders will announce plans for a joint lunar space

mission and projects to work together on artificial intelligence

research, U.S. officials said.

Japan will now be a "full global partner" with the United

States, with influence far beyond its region and into Europe and

the Middle East a senior Biden administration official told

reporters on Tuesday, summing up the deals.

China is attempting to isolate Japan and the Philippines. By

meeting the leaders of those two nations this week in

Washington, Biden is aiming to "flip the script and isolate

China," the official said.

On Thursday, Biden will hold a bilateral meeting with

Marcos, whom he welcomed in Washington just last year, before

the pair will join Kishida for a trilateral summit.

The visit may give a political boost to Kishida, whose

popularity has waned at home. He is being greeted with great

fanfare, with Japanese flags on display throughout Washington.

Besides the state dinner, Biden and his wife Jill took

Kishida and his wife Yuko to a private dinner at a local

restaurant on Tuesday night.

On Thursday, Kishida will become only the second Japanese

leader to address a joint meeting of Congress after his

assassinated predecessor, Shinzo Abe, gave a speech in 2015.

Overshadowing the visit is a controversy over the planned

$15 billion acquisition of American steel maker U.S. Steel

by Japan's Nippon Steel ( NISTF ), a deal some say is "on life

support" after criticism by Biden and former President Donald

Trump, his rival in November's U.S. election.

Also looming are Japanese concerns that if Trump wins a

second term he might seek a deal with China that could

destabilize the region.