Reporter: Wen Yuange
US President Joe Biden embarks on a tour of the Asia-Pacific region. However, according to the "notice" urgently issued by the White House on the eve of the trip, the trip was only reserved for one stop at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan, and canceled the scheduled visit to Papua New Guinea and Australia.
From the so-called first visit of the US president to Papua New Guinea in a century, to the so-called annual summit of the "quadrilateral security dialogue" carefully prepared by the Australian side, the US side has "dismantled Taiwan". The reason for the US self-defense is that Biden has to go back to Washington to continue to play the debt ceiling crisis with the Republican Party.
Such a casual "pigeon" on the diplomatic stage once again exposes the "inner drama" of American politicians: making friends is precious, the price of disrupting the situation is higher, and if you are fighting for the party, both can be thrown away.
U.S. President Joe Biden attends an event at the White House in Washington, D.C., on April 24. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Aaron)
United States: Diplomatic combination punches "self-defeating"
In the words of Richard Maude, the former head of Australia's intelligence agency, in an interview with the media, in the Asia-Pacific diplomatic arena, "showing your face is half the battle."
From going to the Pacific island country Papua New Guinea to "brush the existence", "blocking" China's exchanges and cooperation with Pacific island countries, to stepping up the "small circle" of Japan, India and Australia, the Biden administration's originally carefully designed set of Asia-Pacific trip combination punches is now left with a "self-defeating face" on its own credibility.
Australian Prime Minister Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (from left to right) communicate at the welcoming ceremony of the U.S.-JAPAN-INDI-Australia "quadrilateral mechanism" summit in Tokyo, Japan, May 24, 2022. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Zhang Xiaoyu
The long-delayed U.S. debt ceiling crisis hangs in the balance, and the "limit" of default as early as June 1 is getting closer. Biden negotiated face-to-face on the debt ceiling issue with the leaders of the Senate and House of Representatives on the debt ceiling issue at the White House on the 16th, and then took the initiative to mention the "digression" of shortening the trip when participating in the celebration of "American Jewish Heritage Month", saying that he returned home early to seize the last bit of time to negotiate a plan to avoid debt default.
As "compensation", Biden called Australian Prime Minister Albanese and invited the latter to visit the United States "at a mutually agreed time"; According to a statement released by the White House press secretary, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Malpe's team was only informed that Biden's itinerary had changed.
Such an important "debt ceiling crisis" negotiation in the White House is nothing more than a long-standing political farce in Washington. In recent years, with the increasingly severe political polarization and social fragmentation in the United States, American politicians have frequently used the debt ceiling issue as a bargaining chip in party disputes, even at the expense of causing the US government to shut down and trigger global market fluctuations.
Australia: Immediately "demolished" by the United States
After receiving the "notice" from the US side, Australian Prime Minister Albanese had to "generously" say that he could meet Biden during the G7 summit anyway to see if the leaders of the four countries had time to sit down and talk.
On the 18th, Albanese said again in an interview with local media that due to domestic political factors in the United States, Biden could not visit Australia, and the original quadrilateral summit would be "downgraded" to a "side meeting" of the G7 summit, and "we will find ways to ensure that the meeting can be completed in Hiroshima."
However, Australia, which was busy preparing for this quadrilateral summit, could only swallow its teeth.
Australian opposition leader Peter Dutton criticized Biden's "disappointing" if he didn't come, highlighting "the domestic political reality of the United States."
Australia's largest newspaper "The Australian" published an editorial saying that Biden's cancellation of the visit lost the opportunity to strengthen relations with allies in the Asia-Pacific region and disappointed allies. And Biden's campaign to prioritize the importance of his domestic politics over foreign affairs is "not surprising."
An ABC report was more bluntly titled "How Biden's Debt Ceiling Battle Screws Up Albanese's International Events."
The report commented: "It looks like it's about to be done. The US president's helicopter has also been delivered to Sydney Airport. Suddenly, Albanese was demolished and the president of the United States told him he was not coming, which threw the Quartet's meeting into chaos. As always, U.S. domestic politics trumps foreign affairs. ”
The report further pointed out that the White House's painstaking emphasis on the "quadrilateral mechanism" as a "priority" for the United States could not withstand the blow to the prestige of the mechanism by their temporary cancellation of the meeting.
PNG: A blow to the credibility of the US side
According to the previously disclosed itinerary, Biden originally planned to "transfer" in Papua New Guinea between the G7 summit and the "quadrilateral mechanism" summit, staying for about 3 hours, and planned to meet with the leaders of Pacific island countries.
This is Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, taken from an aerial photograph on November 10, 2018. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Bai Xuefei
"The South Pacific island countries used to complain that they were not taken seriously by Western countries. Biden's visit originally wanted to show the importance that the United States attaches to this region. Bernard Yechora, a scholar in international relations at the University of the Holy Word in Papua New Guinea, told reporters.
Daniel Flitton, a senior Australian diplomat, wrote for the Lowy Institute for International Policy, an Australian think tank, saying that Papua New Guinea is ready for the US president's visit, and Biden is only a few hours away, which will inevitably make people feel "lingering in the cold" and will make the Pacific region feel "humiliated".
Mihai Sola, an expert on Pacific island issues, was quoted by Reuters as saying that "Pacific island leaders have always been skeptical of the ability of the United States to so-called 're-engaged'" and that Biden's cancellation of the visit was "another blow to the credibility of the United States in the region."
In fact, many Papua New Guineans also had a "whisper" on social media about Biden's original visit plan. Some people say, "Western countries have a bad stomach, we have seen enough." ”
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