Source: Global Times
"The Biden administration will tell allies that the United States is back", two major online international meetings held on the 19th local time - the Group of Seven (G7) Leaders Summit and the Munich Security Conference, were Biden's first appearance on the international stage after he became using the United States. Biden pledged at the G7 summit that the United States would donate $4 billion to the World Health Organization to buy COVID-19 vaccines for poor countries, and on the same day he also planned to deliver a speech to deal with "Sino-Russian competition" and transnational threats such as climate change, nuclear proliferation, global health and cybersecurity. The Financial Times said on the 19th that Biden will try to "reinvigorate the Atlantic alliance" on Friday and put the United States back into the "core position of global diplomacy". However, as Russia's "Kommersk" said on the 19th, "the G7 has largely lost its previous influence." While this week's busy transatlantic interactions have been rather rare over the past four years, many remain skeptical about the extent to which the Biden administration's "honeymoon period" with European allies can produce transformative results. A video of nato defense ministers ending on the 18th showed that while NATO allies unanimously supported the agreement reached by the United States and the Taliban last year on the withdrawal of troops, participants failed to agree on the issue of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan by May 1 as scheduled.
The United States and Britain have finally pledged to help poor countries
According to the New York Times reporter from London on the 19th, as the US official revealed at a press conference on the 18th, Biden has promised to allocate $4 billion to the "new crown pneumonia vaccine implementation plan" (covax) at the G7 video summit on the 19th. According to the US National Public Radio reported on the 18th, the White House will announce that it will provide $2 billion to the covax plan at the end of this month, and when other countries fulfill their commitments, the United States will provide the remaining $2 billion in the next two years. Cnn said the U.S. government will increase efforts to distribute vaccines to low- and middle-income countries, though the government has not yet decided to donate vaccines it has purchased directly to other countries. A senior US official stressed to the media on the 18th that the Biden administration "will not donate vaccines to poor countries before most Americans are vaccinated." In any case, this is a very different gesture from the previous Trump's refusal to join covax and his withdrawal from the WHO, biden will also encourage G7 partners to fulfill their commitments to covax, but how G7 allies view Biden's call for more cooperation on vaccine issues is unknown.
At about 10:00 p.m. Beijing time on the 19th, as the host of the G7 summit, British Prime Minister Johnson announced the start of the video summit. At the summit, Johnson called on G7 leaders to "ensure the whole world is getting vaccinated" and put forward ambitious plans to shorten the time to develop new vaccines by 2/3 to 100 days, BBC reported. At the same time, he promised to donate britain's remaining vaccines mainly to poor countries. BBC said more than 400 million doses of vaccine had been ordered in the UK and that "there will be a lot left" after all UK adults have been vaccinated. According to Agence France-Presse on the 19th, Johnson and French President Macron intend to win the support of G7 countries to promote the distribution of vaccines to poorer countries (especially African countries), and donate more funds to the covax project.
"The diplomatic war around the new crown vaccine is intensifying," said the Japan Economic News, saying that the G7 summit is a good opportunity for Biden to announce to the world that the United States will bid farewell to Trump's "home first" policy and resume international cooperation. In fact, the intention of the United States, Britain, France and China and Russia to compete for "vaccine discourse" is overflowing with words, "we see other countries — China and Russia — trying to use vaccines as a means of diplomatic progress," said White House Press Secretary Psaki, "the president is engaging with leaders around the world to express his desire for the United States to regain its central place on the world stage, and we are doing this through a series of actions." When talking about donating vaccines on the 18th, Clefferley, the Minister of State for Middle East and North Africa affairs in the British Foreign Office, also had a targeted landmark list: "We will not use the distribution of vaccines; like some countries, vaccines are regarded as short-term diplomatic tools." ”
Reuters said on the 19th that in addition to discussing the victory over the new crown epidemic, Biden will also discuss with other leaders at the G7 summit to restart the devastated world economy and "deal with the challenges brought by China".
"The transatlantic alliance is the cornerstone"
"This is a busy week of transatlantic relations", "Deutsche Welle" reported on the 19th that immediately after the G7 summit hosted by Johnson, a "special online edition" of the Munich security conference will be held to reunite the leaders of the transatlantic "Fantastic Four" - the United States, Britain, France and Germany and rebuild the US-EU relations that have been damaged by Trump's 4 years in power. National Public Radio said on the 19th that Biden's main job on Friday will be to persuade traditional allies in Europe, and after 4 years in power, the United States has become a team-minded country. On Wednesday and Thursday, Biden's Defense Secretary Austin had participated in NATO's closed-door conference call, with the defense budget, the future of afghanistan's military alliance, and how to deal with the "threat" from China and Russia as their top priorities.
In his speech at the Munich Security Conference, Biden will convey to the world the message of "America is back," turn the page on Trump's "America First" policy and try to convince traditional allies that the United States is ready to cooperate with them on issues such as arms control, coronavirus, cyber hacking and climate change, ACCORDING TON said. A senior U.S. government official told the media on the 18th that Biden's speech will be a "broad and confident clarion call for transatlantic partnerships and alliances to stand up and work together to make progress and meet the major challenges we all face."
According to the Financial Times reported on the 19th, at the Munich Security Conference, Biden will state that the world's major democracies and market economies must work together to deal with "great power competitors such as China and Russia" and various transnational threats. "President Biden looks forward to fully articulating a central proposition that the transatlantic alliance is the cornerstone of America's engagement in world affairs in the 21st century, just as it was in the 20th century," said a senior U.S. government official. Biden, he added, will seek to prove that "democracy is the best model for meeting the challenges of our time."
The U.S. government announced its formal rejoining of the Paris Agreement on Friday, demonstrating its support for multilateralism. Organizers of the Munich Security Conference said this year's "special edition video conference" gave leaders limited room for interaction and that a full conference should include a wider range of global security players, such as China, Russia and the Middle East, which currently have "major contentious issues" but are not represented, "this is basically a US-European event, hoping to take joint action on global issues such as climate, COVID-19 and terrorism." According to reports, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus will also speak at the meeting.
Australia's Western newspaper said that the Biden administration told allies that the United States was back and would re-engage with them, which was in stark contrast to Trump's single-handed approach.
"Diplomatic ambitions" to be tested
After a month of concentrating on the domestic outbreak, the diplomatic activities of biden's new administration began to heat up rapidly.
Reuters said on the 19th that US Secretary of State Blinken held a video conference with the French, German and British foreign ministers on the 18th, after which he announced that if Iran resumes strict compliance with its commitments to the nuclear agreement, the United States will also act accordingly and is ready to start negotiations with Iran to achieve relevant goals. According to CNN, a Pentagon spokesman said on the 18th that "the United States is participating in the process of increasing nato's troops in Iraq mission and will make due contributions to this important expansion mission." This decision would reverse the policies of the Trump administration, which previously reduced the number of U.S. troops in Iraq to 2,500. According to a statement issued thursday by the U.S. State Department, Kim Sung, acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, held a video conference with Roh Gyu-hwan, minister of the Rok-rok Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Peninsula Peace Negotiations, and Ken-hiroshi Funakoshi, director of the Asia-Oceania Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to discuss the North Korean issue. Yonhap News Agency said that this is the first time since Biden took office that the US side has released the news of the meeting of diplomats from South Korea, the United States and Japan.
However, the media commentary on Biden's diplomatic ambitions is generally not optimistic. Deutsche Welle says the EU has not always been able to speak with one voice, as the United States has. The rest of the Eu has sided with the United States in pressuring Germany to abandon the Nord Stream-2 pipeline with Russia, but the United States has been less successful in persuading allies to take a more cautious approach to China — both on trade and in 5G technology. The Financial Times said that opposing Russia's construction of a gas pipeline to Germany could lead to a rupture in relations between Washington and Berlin, and that Biden's claim that the United States "can lead the world's democracies" was ridiculed in some countries after the riots at the US Capitol.
Russia's "Kommers" said on the 19th that the G7 video summit held on the 19th was the first major test for Biden, and it was relatively easy to reach an agreement with allies to expand cooperation to fight the new crown epidemic, but it was not easy for the United States to try to obtain a global leader in the field of anti-epidemic. In addition, the climate problem is not so simple. Returning to the Paris Agreement and refusing to support domestic shale oil and gas producers would cause political damage to the Biden administration. And China is perhaps the most difficult and painful topic at the G7 summit, each member of the G7 has its own connection to China, and few people are willing to gather under the banner of the United States to confront China.
The US "National Interest" website said on the 19th that Biden declared that "the United States is back", but the United States does not have three heads and six arms, and is still deeply involved in many wars. Policymakers must cease their endless occupation of the Middle East and prioritize U.S. self-interest rather than posture as an enforcer of liberal hegemony. Biden may have done something right, but if he doesn't address these larger issues, U.S. foreign policy will largely perpetuate the old path, "a path that has brought about failure after failure."