Tag: Joe Biden

South Korea’s acting President Han Duck-soo made sure to call President Biden over the weekend and assure him everything is fine in Korea:

Acting President Han Duck-soo held phone talks with U.S. President Joe Biden on Sunday and vowed to maintain and develop the two countries’ alliance, his office said.

Han held the 16-minute phone conversation with Biden after President Yoon Suk Yeol was impeached by the National Assembly on Saturday over his short-lived imposition of martial law on Dec. 3.

“Our government will carry out our diplomatic and security policies without disruption and work to ensure that the South Korea-U.S. alliance continues to be maintained and developed without wavering,” he said, according to his office.

Yonhap

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I seriously doubt that the North Korean troop dispatch to Russia was not cordinated with China in the first place. This phone calls seems more about optics of appearing to do something instead of actually expecting something to be done:

U.S. President Joe Biden called Saturday for China to use its clout to prevent an escalation of Russia’s war in Ukraine through the dispatch of more North Korean troops, while raising concerns over the possibility of Pyongyang engaging in provocations, a senior U.S. official said Saturday.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan elaborated on the discussions that Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping had during their talks on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, amid mounting concerns about broad security implications of a military alignment between Moscow and Pyongyang.

“(Biden) also pointed out (to Xi) that the PRC does have influence and capacity and should use it to try to prevent a further escalation or further expansion of the conflict through the introduction of even more DPRK forces,” Sullivan told reporters in a press briefing.

Yonhap

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Instead of calling him a dictator maybe President Biden should have just called him an Emperor instead because that is essentially what Xi Jinping has made himself into:

China called President Biden’s suggestion that its leader is a dictator “extremely absurd and irresponsible” on Wednesday in an angry response that threatened to undo recent efforts by Secretary of State Antony Blinken to calm tensions between the two superpowers.

Biden referred to Xi Jinping as a dictator while speaking Tuesday at a campaign event, where he said the Chinese leader had been embarrassed by the U.S. downing of a spy balloon because he was unaware it had gone off course.

“The reason why Xi Jinping got very upset in terms of when I shot that balloon down with two boxcars full of spy equipment in it is he didn’t know it was there,” Biden said. “That’s what’s a great embarrassment for dictators: when they didn’t know what happened.”

Washington Post

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This latest trip abroad for President Yoon has gone way better than his last one where he showed up late to Queen Elizabeth’s funeral and was caught using an expletive on a hot mic initially reported to be directed towards President Biden:

 President Yoon Suk-yeol and first lady Kim Keon-hee briefly reunited with U.S. President Joe Biden at a gala dinner for world leaders in Phnom Penh the previous day, the presidential office said Sunday.

Yoon and Kim “met with U.S. President Joe Biden who entered the venue shortly after they arrived and happily exchanged greetings,” deputy presidential spokesperson Lee Jae-myoung said in a written briefing. “President Yoon and President Biden caught up with each other and fondly posed for photos.”

The couple also happily exchanged greetings with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife, Yuko, Lee said.

The leaders are in Cambodia to attend regional summits involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. On Sunday, Yoon, Biden and Kishida are scheduled to hold bilateral and trilateral summits on the event’s sidelines.

Yonhap

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This makes me wonder who was coordinating this trip for President Yoon because there is a big difference between a 30 minute meeting and less than a minute:

When Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo said last week that President Yoon Suk-yeol’s summit with U.S. President Joe Biden would be brief ― 30 minutes or so ― many thought that it might be too short to talk about the urgent issues between the two countries. But the meeting in New York City turned out to be even shorter ― far shorter ― than he hoped it would be. At a fundraising event hosted by Biden, Yoon had a standing conversation with him for less than a minute ― 48 seconds, precisely. 

According to Yoon’s office and the White House, Wednesday (local time), Yoon asked Biden to help resolve South Korean companies’ concerns over the Inflation Reduction Act and they reaffirmed their commitment to bolstering the bilateral alliance against North Korea during the conversation. 

The act, passed last month, gives a tax credit to buyers of electric vehicles (EVs) from next January if a minimum of 40 percent of the critical minerals in their batteries are mined or processed in the U.S. or countries that signed free trade agreements in the U.S., or recycled in North America. At least 50 percent of the battery components must also be manufactured or assembled in North America. The law is causing significant concern for Korean automakers.

The news immediately drew criticism from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which called the meeting the latest episode of “diplomatic disaster” committed by Yoon.

Korea Times

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It seems to me that President Biden is making it pretty clear that the U.S. will defend Taiwan if it is attacked by China:

President Joe Biden on Sunday for the second time this year said U.S. troops would help defend Taiwan in case of a Chinese invasion, further casting doubt on the United States’ policy of “strategic ambiguity” regarding the island democracy.

Biden in an interview broadcast on CBS’ “60 Minutes” said the U.S. remains committed to the “One China” policy that acknowledges Beijing’s claim over Taiwan but considers the island’s status unresolved.

However, in the case of an “unprecedented attack,” U.S. troops would intervene, the president said.

An unnamed White House spokesman later said official U.S. policy toward China and Taiwan has not changed, CNBC reported Monday.

Stars & Stripes

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In the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is likely a good thing to let the Chinese know exactly where the U.S. stands if they try and attack Taiwan:

President Joe Biden, speaking Monday during his first visit presidential visit to Japan, signaled an apparent end to the U.S. policy of strategic ambiguity by saying the United States would defend Taiwan against a Chinese invasion.

“Yes,” Biden replied when asked by a reporter in Tokyo if he was willing to get involved militarily to defend the island.

“That’s the commitment we made,” he said at a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The U.S. has maintained a “One China policy” that acknowledges Beijing’s claim of sovereignty over Taiwan. However, the policy doesn’t give China the right to use force to take over the island, Biden said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

If President Yoon wanted to show President Biden where close integration between the USFK and the ROK Military happens, the KAOC is good place to start:

President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden visited an Air Force operations center Sunday on the last stop of Biden’s three-day trip to South Korea, underscoring the allies’ readiness against threats from North Korea.

The two visited the Korean Air and Space Operations Center (KAOC), which is situated in an underground bunker and serves as a key command post for air and space operations at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul.

Yoon described the center as a symbol of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and a key site where the two countries jointly respond to “continually advancing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.