Along with his first virtual session of a group of 7 a few hours earlier, Biden’s rugby side will focus diplomatic efforts on his attempt to restore the trans-Atlantic alliance after it became tense under Trump, who is Europe as a trade competitor. considered and often said he believes traditional American friends are harder to deal with than opponents.
And while officials, while making a preview of his appearance, said Biden would not focus primarily on Trump during his outings, the threatening influence of his predecessor would nonetheless inform the message the president wants to convey.
“He will certainly acknowledge that democracy is under tension, democratic institutions are under tension, and in the United States is under challenge that they are in parts of Europe and also in other parts of the world,” a senior administration official said. “But the recognition will be the starting point for a confident and assertive assertion he will make in this speech that we can renew and strengthen democratic institutions.”
As a regular participant in the Munich conference during his years as senator, vice president, and private citizen, Biden used the opportunity as a testing ground and sounding board for his foreign policy. The event itself, set up at the height of the Cold War as a self-defining “trans-Atlantic family reunion,” is in some ways an example of the type of group-based diplomacy it has long supported.
The pandemic forced the annual gathering from its traditional home in the large Bavarian hotel. Instead, Biden will speak at the conference from the White House’s East Room, where he spent the first month of his presidency undoing damage that he said cost the United States its credibility abroad.
This year, Biden hopes to address a united front against Russia and China, and will voice specific grievances against the countries’ anti-democratic threats.
After four years of the US tackling China’s challenges unilaterally, Biden will set out a multilateral strategy to confront and compete with Beijing.
While seeking to strengthen the more traditional US alliances with European countries and other democracies around the world, the President will seek to use the ties to meet the growing challenges facing China and to encourage the US and its allies to ‘to stand together’, the official said.
“As for China, he will make it clear in the speech that he is not looking for a confrontation and does not want to wage a cold war, but he expects stiff competition and he welcomes it,” said a senior administration official. said. “And he believes that the United States and Europe and democracies across the Indian Pacific must all work together to push back against the Chinese.”
The official said Biden was not expected to make specific requests to US allies during the G7 or Munich Security Conference, but that he would urge US allies to “stand together” and “develop a general view”. The official stressed that action against China would not be at the heart of Biden’s remarks at any of the conferences, and that he would not practice ‘chest’ either.
Biden will address the security conference one day after the State Department announced that the US will enter into multilateral negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, reiterate the commitment, but will not disclose its timetable for the talks or an agreement.
“We are looking forward to participating in diplomacy. We would like to sit down and hear what the Iranians have to say. We want to devise a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear program, and let’s get to work,” the official said. said. “He does not go further than that in his remarks.”
And just as Biden drafted its $ 1.9 billion coronavirus relief package by emphasizing the risk of ‘getting too small’, not too big, a senior administration official said Biden would emphasize a similar message as it relates to the global economic recovery.
“This is an era of action and investment and not of austerity,” the official said, making a preview of Biden’s remarks.
The session will also mark the official return of the United States to the Paris climate agreement, 30 days after Biden announced that he would rejoin the United States during his first day in office.
Biden joins a G7 that was broken by the presence of Trump, who did not like the group and questioned why he should participate in the summit at all. At his first meeting, which took place on a cliff in Sicily, he caught himself when the leaders tried to persuade him to stay in the Paris Agreement.
The following year, during a riverfront retreat in the northern Quebec forest, he stubbornly opposed the other leaders’ requests for tariffs and left early, withdrawing his signature from the closing statement when he flew to Singapore to fly with Kim. Young Un to assemble.
The leaders clashed again a year later during a heated dinner meeting under the Biarritz lighthouse in France, when Trump said he wanted Russia to rejoin the group.
By his fourth year in office, when it was his turn to host the summit, Trump went back and forth where it would be invested, upset because optics and ethics prevented him from holding it at his resort in Doral. Finally, at the insistence of French President Emmanuel Macron, he held a video conference call. But he never offered a real summit.
There is undoubtedly a sense of tension that relaxes with Biden replacing Trump in the US chair around the G7 table. Even among leaders who have tried to cultivate the former president, such as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Biden offers at least a more predictable and stable presence than Trump, whose sour state of mind – often fueled by jet lag – has paid homage. many people derail G7 session.
In some ways, the restoration of a credible American voice is the signal message from Biden during his debut multilateral outing, which a senior administration official compared to a ‘virtual trip to Europe’ on Thursday night.
“The president will show his very strong position that the US has a deep set of strengths that surpass what we have seen over the past four years,” the official said, giving a preview of the president’s activity on condition of anonymity.