President Joe Biden is nearing the end of a whirlwind trip to India and Vietnam for a series of high-profile meetings aimed at countering China’s influence in the developing world.
At the G20 in New Delhi and again in Hanoi, Biden used his swing through Asia to make the case that the US is a more reliable and trustworthy partner than Beijing, though he emphasized that he did not want a new Cold War with the Chinese. “I don’t want to contain China, I just want to make sure we have a relationship with China that is on the up-and-up squared away, and everyone knows what it’s all about,” Biden said.
G20 hosts disappointed at Xi and Putin’s absence White House officials called it “a disappointment” to India that Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping did not participate in the summit, but added that the United States intended to use it as an opportunity to strengthen relationships with the rest of the nations that attended.