2023-05-15 05:12:02
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden has an ambitious agenda as he leaves on an eight-day trip to the Indo-Pacific region this week.
He wants to strengthen ties with longtime allies, make history as the first sitting US president to visit the small island country of Papua New Guinea and highlight his administration’s commitment to the Pacific. The trip to three countries also gives Biden, 80, who recently announced that he will run for re-election, the chance to show that he still has the stamina to cope with the grueling pace of the presidency.
But as he prepares to head west, Biden finds himself at an impasse with Republican lawmakers over raising America’s debt limit. If the matter is not resolved in the next few weeks, he threatens to cause an economic recession.
A look at what’s at stake during Biden’s upcoming trip:
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WHERE IS BIDEN GOING?
Biden heads first to Hiroshima, Japan for the Group of Seven summit. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is hosting this year’s annual meeting of the leaders of the world’s seven largest economies. He chose his hometown of Hiroshima, where the United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb in 1945, as his headquarters.
The bomb destroyed the city and killed 140,000 people. Three days later, Washington dropped a second bomb on Nagasaki, causing 70,000 more deaths. Japan surrendered on August 15, 1945, ending World War II and its aggression in Asia for almost half a century.
The importance of Hiroshima resonates deeply today, as Russia has made veiled threats about the use of tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine, North Korea has intensified ballistic missile tests, and Iran presses ahead with its atomic weapons program.
Later Biden will make a brief and historic stop in Papua New Guinea. The president has sought to improve relations with Pacific island nations amid growing US concern over China’s growing military and economic influence in the region.
And finally, Biden will travel to Australia for a summit with his colleagues from the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, also known as the “Quad”: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese; Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Kishida.
The Quad association was formed during the response to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that left some 230,000 dead. Since he took office, Biden has sought to reinvigorate the Quad as part of his broader initiative to increase America’s focus on the Pacific.
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THE BIG THEMES
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Beijing’s provocative actions in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait are expected to be the highlights of Biden’s trip.
At last month’s G7 ministerial meeting, the alliance vowed to present a unified front against China’s threats to Taiwan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The G7 is made up of Great Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
Biden administration officials have been concerned about China’s increasing threats and military maneuvers against Taiwan, the self-governing democracy that Beijing claims as its own. Tensions between the United States and China were heightened by the visit of the then Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to Taipei last August. Those ties were further strained after Washington shot down a Chinese spy balloon in February after it flew over US territory.
The G7 foreign ministers said in their statement that the alliance would seek to “intensify sanctions” against Russia. It remains to be seen how far the G7 is willing to go.
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IS THE UNITED STATES BACK?
The potential debt default by the US government poses a difficult dynamic for Biden on his first trip abroad since announcing his 2024 campaign.
Since the beginning of his presidency, Biden has repeatedly told world rulers that “America is back.” That’s a way of reassuring allies that Washington is returning to its historic leading role on the international stage after the more introspective “America First” foreign policy implemented by President Donald Trump.
But Biden has also acknowledged that skeptical rulers have asked him: “For how long?”
In this regard, senior government officials have said that the impending crisis over the debt limit is a worrisome sign.
“It sends a horrible message to nations like Russia and China, who would like nothing more than to be able to point this out and say, ‘See how the United States is not a reliable partner. The United States is not a stable leader of peace and security around the world,’” said John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.
The Congressional Budget Office said Friday there was a “significant risk” that the federal government would run out of cash sometime in the first two weeks of June unless Congress agrees to raise the borrowing limit from 31, 4 trillion dollars.
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RESPECT FOR THE PACIFIC ISLANDS
With the brief stop in Papua New Guinea to meet with the rulers of the Pacific islands, Biden has an opportunity to show that the United States is serious about staying engaged for the long term with the island nations of that ocean.
The area has received less attention from Washington since the end of the Cold War, and China has increasingly filled that void through more aid, development and security cooperation. Biden has said that he is committed to changing that dynamic.
Last September, the US president hosted the leaders of more than a dozen Pacific island countries at the White House, and announced a new strategy to help the region on climate change and maritime security. His government has also recently opened embassies in the Solomon Islands and in Tonga, and has plans to open one in the Republic of Kiribati.
He will be the first sitting US president to visit Papua New Guinea, of some 9 million people. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited it in 2018.
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QUALITY TIME WITH MODI
Biden will spend a lot of time with the Indian prime minister in the coming weeks.
Modi is among eight non-G7 leaders invited by Kishida to join the meeting of major industrialized nations in Hiroshima. He will also attend Biden’s meeting with the Pacific Island leaders in Papua New Guinea.
Biden, Modi and Kishida will then head to Australia for a Quad Security Dialogue meeting to be hosted by Albanese in Sydney. Biden won’t have to wait long to see Modi again: the president will receive him at the White House for a state visit on June 22.
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