[ad_1]
NEW YORK (AP) – President Joe Biden planned to use his first address to the UN General Assembly to reassure other American leadership nations on the global stage and to urge allies to act swiftly and cooperatively to address the smoldering problems of the COVID-19 address pandemic, climate change and human rights abuses.
Biden, who arrived in New York on Monday evening to meet with Secretary General Antonio Guterres ahead of Tuesday’s speech, fully supported the panel’s relevance and ambition at a difficult moment in history.
At the beginning of his meeting with Guterres, the president returned briefly to his mantra that “America is back” – a phrase that has become an abbreviation for the president to embody his promise to take a dramatically different path with allies Predecessor Donald Trump.
“The vision of the United Nations has never lacked ambition, and neither has our constitution,” said Biden.
But the president faced a healthy level of skepticism from allies during his week of senior diplomacy. The first few months of his presidency included a number of difficult moments with friendly nations that, after four years of Trump’s “America first” approach to foreign policy, were awaiting greater cooperation from Biden.
Eight months after his presidency, Biden was inconsistent with allies on the chaotic end of the US war in Afghanistan. He has faced disagreements over how to share coronavirus vaccines with developing countries and pandemic travel restrictions. And there are questions about how best to respond to China’s military and economic moves.
Biden is also in the midst of a new diplomatic battle with France, the United States’ oldest ally, after announcing plans – along with Britain – to equip Australia with nuclear submarines. The move is intended to give Australia enhanced patrol capabilities in the Pacific amid growing concerns about the Chinese military’s increasingly aggressive tactics, but it has a French defense deal worth at least $ 66 billion to sell diesel-powered submarines to Australia on the Turned upside down.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Monday there had been a “crisis of confidence” with the US as a result of the episode.
Before Biden’s arrival, EU Council President Charles Michel sharply criticized the Biden government for “leaving Europe out of the picture in the Indo-Pacific region” and the underlying elements of the transatlantic alliance – transparency and loyalty – when it left Afghanistan and the announcement of the USA-UK-Australia alliance.
Despite these differences, Biden hoped to use his General Assembly address this week, as well as a series of one-on-one and larger meetings with world leaders, to represent American leaders on the world stage.
“There are disagreements, including when we disagree with the decisions of other countries, the decision points when countries disagree with the decisions we make,” said White House press secretary Jen Psaki. “But the bigger point here … is that we are committed to these alliances, and that always requires the work of every president, every global leader.”
In an interview prior to his meeting with Biden, Guterres told The Associated Press that he was concerned about the “utterly dysfunctional” relationship between the US and China and that this could lead to a new Cold War. Psaki said the government disagreed with the assessment, adding that the US-China relationship was “not a conflict, but one of competition”.
In his address on Tuesday, Biden planned to strongly emphasize the need for world leaders to work together on the COVID-19 pandemic, meet previous commitments to tackle climate change, address new technology issues and consolidate trade rules, so White House officials called.
Biden was expected to release new plans to aid global vaccination efforts and to discuss the US plan to meet its part of the financial commitments the US and other developed nations made in 2009 to poorer countries Help introduce clean energy technologies, which was due to come into effect annually last year, said a senior administrator, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview what the president would say.
Before his departure, the Biden government announced plans to relax foreign travel restrictions to the United States from November. The US has largely restricted travel by non-US citizens from Europe since the beginning of the pandemic, an issue that had become a point of contention in transatlantic relations.
The new rules will allow foreigners if they have proof of vaccination and a negative COVID-19 test, the White House said on Monday.
Biden planned to limit his time at the United Nations due to concerns about the coronavirus. He was scheduled to meet Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in New York before moving the rest of the week’s diplomacy to virtual and Washington settings.
A COVID-19 virtual summit hosted by Biden on Wednesday will urge leaders to strengthen vaccine exchange commitments, address oxygen starvation around the world, and address other critical issues related to a pandemic deal.
The President is also due to meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the White House on Tuesday and invite the Prime Ministers of Australia, India and Japan – part of a Pacific alliance called “The Quad” – to Washington for Friday. In addition to meeting the quad leaders, Biden will have one-on-one talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
___
Madhani reported from Washington. Associated Press authors Jonathan Lemire of New York and Edith Lederer of the United Nations contributed to this report.
[ad_2]
