While we're all understandably focused on the existential 2024 election, it's good to remind ourselves that President Biden is still doing the job we elected him to do. This weekend, he's hosting leaders representing the "Quad" (Australia, India, Japan and the US) in Delaware:
President Joe Biden told Indo-Pacific allies on Saturday that he believes China’s increasing military assertiveness is an effort to test the region at a turbulent moment for Beijing.
Biden’s comments were caught by a hot mic after he and fellow leaders of the so-called Quad delivered opening remarks before the press at a summit he’s hosting near his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. He said his administration sees Beijing’s actions as a “change in tactic, not a change in strategy.”
China is struggling to pull up its economy that was pummeled by the coronavirus pandemic and has seen an extended slowdown in industrial activity and real estate prices as Beijing faces pressure to ramp up spending to stimulate demand.
“China continues to behave aggressively, testing us all across the region, and it’s true in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, South China, South Asia and the Taiwan Straits,” Biden told Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. He added, “At least from our perspective, we believe (Chinese President) Xi Jinping is looking to focus on domestic economic challenges and minimize the turbulence in China’s diplomatic relationships, and he’s also looking to buy himself some diplomatic space, in my view, to aggressively pursue China’s interest.” [snip]
At the summit, the leaders agreed to expand the partnership among the Quad nations’ coast guards to improve interoperability and capabilities, with Indian, Japanese and Australian personnel sailing on U.S. ships in the region. But U.S. officials would not say if those transits would include the contested South China Sea.
China also has longtime territorial disputes involving other claimants including Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. U.S. officials worry about China’s long-stated goals of unifying Taiwan with China’s mainland and the possibility of war over Taiwan. The self-ruled island democracy is claimed by Beijing as part of its territory.
The leaders in a joint declaration issued following their talks expressed “serious concern about the militarization ... and coercive and intimidating maneuvers in the South China Sea.”...
We've been fortunate to have a leader respected by other world leaders, unlike the ignorant, mentally unfit buffoon who previously occupied the White House. That he's successfully marshaling the combined strategic power of our Quad allies to send a strong message to Beijing to dial back its aggressive behavior in the region is more testament to his influence and gravitas. We hope, after the election, that his experience and talents will continue to be utilized by a Harris-Walz administration.
(Photo: at the Quad summit in Claymont, DE, yesterday; l to r, Australian PM Albanese, Indian PM Modi, President Biden, Japanese PM Kishida / Mark Schiefelbein, AP)
