US President Joe Biden arrived in Asia on Saturday vowing to urge his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to curb North Korea’s “worst trends” when the two leaders meet for the first time in person during the summit. G20 in Bali, Indonesia on Monday.
At the meeting of the world’s major economies, Biden will tell Xi that China “is interested contain North Korea’s worst trends”, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told the press.
The White House chief arrived in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh on Saturday to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit before heading to Bali for the G20.
Biden will also tell Xi that if North Korea’s nuclear and missile buildup “continues on this path, it will simply mean increased US military and security presence in the region“.
Speaking aboard Air Force One shortly before arriving in Cambodia, Sullivan said Biden would not make demands on China, but would give Xi “his perspective.”
He indicated that “North Korea poses a threat not only to the United States, not only to (South Korea) and Japan, but to the peace and stability of the entire region.”
Whether China wants to put pressure on North Korea is “obviously their decision,” Sullivan said.
However, with North Korea expected to test a nuclear weapon and increase its missile capacity, “the operational situation is more serious at the moment,” Sullivan said.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida added his voice to calls for concerted international action to halt Pyongyang’s missile program during talks with ASEAN, China and South Korea.
alarm in Asia
Tokyo and Seoul are increasingly alarmed by the recent spate of missile launches, including an ICBM.
Biden and Xi, leaders of the world’s two largest economies, have spoken on the phone several times since Biden took office in January 2021, but they have never met in person.
The two will have much to talk about amid the numerous disputes between Washington and Beijing over trade, human rights in China’s Xinjiang region and Taiwan.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on both countries to work together and warned on Friday of the “growing risk of the world economy splitting into two parts led by the two largest economies, the United States and China.”
Influence in Southeast Asia
Ahead of the G20, Biden will try to strengthen Washington’s influence in Southeast Asia in meetings with the rulers of ASEAN to counter Chinese influence in the region.
Beijing in recent years has intensified its presence through trade, diplomacy and its military might, in a region that it considers its backyard.
Sullivan indicated that Biden has come to Phnom Penh with an agenda that underscores his government’s policy of “increasing” his presence in Southeast Asia as a guarantor of stability.
Biden and Xi arrive at the G20 on the heels of results obtained at home: Biden’s party performed surprisingly well in the mid-term elections, while Xi secured an historic third presidential term.
At the Communist Party of China conference in October, Xi warned of a difficult geopolitical climate, without directly mentioning the United States.
return to public
The Bali summit will also mark Xi’s diplomatic comeback since the start of the pandemic, when he halted international travel.
Xi will also meet with French President Emmanuel Macron before heading to Bangkok for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
Who will not be in Bali is the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, rejected by the West after the invasion of Ukraine. He will be represented by his foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.
Lavrov will argue that the US is destabilizing the Asia Pacific region with its confrontational policy, according to Russia’s TASS news agency.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will attend the G20 summit virtually after ASEAN rejected his request to speak.
Source: AFP
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Source: Clarin
