US President Joe Biden travels to Japan this Sunday (22nd) on the second leg of a trip aimed at strengthening US leadership in Asia in the face of a rising China and a nucleararmed and dangerously unpredictable North Korea.
Biden is leaving South Korea, where he met with newly elected President Yoon Sukyeol, with whom he even discussed expanding military exercises to curb Kim Jong Un’s noisy attacks.
While officials in both countries have warned that Kim could escalate tensions with a nuclear test while Biden is in the region, the US president said Democratic allies should deepen ties.
During a press conference with Yoon, Biden cited a “(global) competition between democracies and autocracies” and said the AsiaPacific region is a crucial battleground.
“We’ve talked about our need to extend this beyond the United States, Japan and South Korea, but throughout the Pacific, South Pacific and IndoPacific. I think this is an opportunity,” Biden said.
While China remains the United States’ main adversary in this dispute, Biden highlighted the difficult challenge he faces with Russia when he signed a $40 billion aid bill Saturday night to help Ukraine fight Russian invaders help.
The law, previously passed by Congress, was brought to Seoul for Biden to enact without waiting for his return to Washington Tuesday night.
Before leaving South Korea, Biden met with the president of automaker Hyundai to celebrate the company’s decision to invest $5.5 billion in an electric vehicle plant in Georgia, in the southern United States.
He also met with the US and South Korean militaries along with Yoon, a compromise that a senior White House official said could reflect “the true integrated nature” of the two countries’ economic and military alliance.
In Japan, Biden is set to meet with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Emperor Naruhito on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s Quad Alliance Summit of leaders from Australia, India, Japan and the United States.
Also on Monday, Biden will announce a major American regional trade initiative, the IndoPacific Economic Framework for Prosperity.
THREAT IN NORTH KOREA
Biden and Yoon said in a statement Saturday that “in light of the evolving threat” from North Korea, they “agreed to initiate talks to expand the scale and scope of combined military exercises and training in and around the Korean peninsula.” .
The possible intensification of joint USSouth Korean military exercises would come in response to North Korea’s campaign of sanctionsfocused weapons tests this year amid growing fears of an imminent launch of a new missile.
Chosen as a strong proUS message, Yoon said he and Biden “discussed whether we need to launch different types of joint exercises to prepare for a nuclear strike.”
He also specified the need for “warplanes and missiles compared to before, just thinking about the nuclear deterrent umbrella”.
Any escalation in joint USKorea military exercises would likely anger Pyongyang, which views these joint exercises as rehearsals for an invasion.
Meanwhile, Biden and Yoon have made an offer of aid to Pyongyang, which recently announced it was in the midst of a Covid19 outbreak, a rare admission of domestic troubles.
The USNorth Korea statement said the two presidents “express concern about the recent outbreak of Covid19” and “stand ready to work with the international community to help North Korea fight the virus.” .
On Sunday, North Korean state media reported that 2.6 million people had fevers, with 67 deaths what they claim is a death rate of just 0.03%, despite an unvaccinated population where malnutrition is rife.
While Biden said he wouldn’t rule out meeting Kim if he was “sincere,” he recounted the difficulty of dealing with an unpredictable dictator.
“We offer vaccines not only to North Korea, but also to China, and we stand ready to do so immediately,” Biden said at a joint news conference with Yoon. “We have received no reply,” he added.