Joe Biden attempted to mobilise regional cooperation against China on the fringes of the G7 summit on Saturday. Meanwhile, he is facing a stalemate in Washington over how to prevent the US from defaulting on its debt.
Biden began his third day in Japan at the annual meeting of the world’s most powerful democracies. While a staff briefing on the latest twists and turns in the showdown over how to raise the federal debt limit. The vice president hoped to avert an outcome that would roil the global economy and be advantageous to Beijing.
Saturday, the president squeezed into meetings aimed at countering China’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific. Including the so-called Quad partnership comprised of the United States, Australia, Japan, and India.
The Quad members were originally scheduled to meet in Sydney next week. But their meeting has been moved to the sidelines of the G-7 so that Vice President Biden can return to Washington on Sunday. To finalise a deal to raise the debt ceiling before the US runs out of money to pay its bills.
Domestic dramas continue to interfere with Biden’s efforts to convey to the world that the United States is reclaiming its global leadership position.
However, at the summit, the president has largely avoided the public glare. Forgoing major public statements and leaving Friday’s leader dinner early. In a room adjacent to his hotel suite, aides in Washington have been keeping him informed of the back-and-forth of US debt limit negotiations via a video monitor.
Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, acknowledged that foreign leaders have pressed Biden about the debt limit impasse in Washington. But press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stated that there was no hysteria. At least not yet — despite intense interest in how the president would resolve a domestic standoff with geopolitical implications.
