Editorial | Asia visit by Joe Biden should try to ease, not create, tensions
- US president will have countering growing Chinese influence in the region squarely in his sights when he begins his four-day trip to Seoul and Tokyo
Joe Biden’s first visit to Asia as US president has China squarely in its sights. He will be careful not to directly refer to Beijing during the four-day trip to Seoul and Tokyo that starts Friday, but it will be obvious from statements which country is being referred to.
His objective is to build support for economic and security alliances his administration has formulated to counter growing Chinese influence in the region. The strategy is aimed at isolating an avowed rival and perceived threat to American power, but if mismanaged, could too easily prove counterproductive.
Taiwan is a particular matter of concern, with Biden’s administration increasingly eroding a decades-old US pledge that there is only one China by forging ever-closer relations. Ahead of the trip, the US State Department voiced support for Taipei joining the World Health Organization as an observer.
Beijing’s objections have ensured the self-ruled island, a sovereign part of China that is considered a rebel province, has been excluded from most global organisations.
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The recklessness of the American move was apparent in the warning China’s top diplomat, Politburo member Yang Jiechi, gave to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan during a phone call, saying that “dangerous situations” would arise if the “Taiwan card” continued to be played.