At Next Week’s G20 Conference, President Biden Will Want a Word With Xi Jinping

Buoyed by a better-than-expected showing of Democrats in Tuesday’s midterm elections, President Biden hits the international campaign trail this weekend, a globe-girdling trip that will take him from the charms of Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh to the delights of the Indonesian island of Bali.Mr. Biden begins with the 27th UN conference on climate change on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula — COP 27 — and then it is on to the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh for a meeting with leaders of member nations of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.Mr. Biden’s stop early next week at Bali is for a gathering of most, though not all, members of the Group of 20, the world’s economic leading powers, focusing on economic issues.China’s leader, Xi Jinping, won’t be at the Asean parley, but he’s scheduled to be at the G20, where he and Mr. Biden are likely to chat but not necessarily hold a stand-alone summit. If Mr. Xi does agree to a serious palaver, however, the topic could well be America’s “strategic ambiguity” in respect of Taiwan — a policy that dates at least from President Carter’s decision in 1978 to transfer recognition to Beijing from Taipei as the capital of all China.If they can navigate their way around Taiwan, which won’t be easy, Mr. Biden might even attempt to draw Communist China away from Russia on its war in Ukraine and any other ambitions Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, may have for expanding his realm. As Mr. Biden remarked to White House reporters, China and Russia “have been sort of keeping their distance.” Without mentioning Mr. Xi by name, Mr. Biden said he did not think “there’s a lot of respect that China has for Russia or Putin.”Any significant contact between Messrs. Biden and Xi should make more news than the gabfest in Phnom Penh of leaders of nine of the 10 member nations of Asean, plus America, China, Japan, and — maybe — Russia. That parley is sure to be long on rhetoric and short of definitive action as they try to find common ground on what to say or do about the 10th member state, Myanmar, embroiled in civil strife between a military-dominated junta and dissidents inspired by their jailed former leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. Myanmar’s military leader, General Min Aung Hlaing, wasn’t invited, though Myanmar remains a member of Asean, which over the years has fostered good-will among Southeast Asian nations but rarely comes up with substantive agreements.China’s premier, Li Keqiang, not Mr. Xi, is already at Phnom Penh seeing Cambodia’s long-time prime minister, Hun Sen, who’s tightened the dictatorial screws since rising to power in 1985 after leaving the Chinese-backed Khmer Rouge before they were driven out by Vietnamese Communist troops in early 1979. Beijing is showering the region with hundreds of millions of dollars in aid — far more than the $200 million that Mr. Biden may be dangling at Phnom Penh.Other Asean members, including Vietnam, would rather stay out of American and Chinese rivalries, remaining neutral and noncommittal on China’s claims to Taiwan. They’re divided, geographically and diplomatically, on China’s claim to the entire South China Sea, which also laps up on the shores of Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei.Mr. Biden should accomplish more after arriving Sunday at Bali, where he hopes to get down to tacks made of brass on matters of economic substance including trade, food, and energy. If Messrs. Biden and Xi do sit down together, Mr. Biden would like to talk about more than Taiwan. Trade issues, including China’s huge surplus with America, should be high on the agenda considering that the G20’s primary concern is global economic stability. Mr. Biden may also urge caution on China’s expansionist tendencies, including challenges in the South Pacific, scene of some of America’s bloodiest battles with Japan in World War II.One person Mr. Biden will not encounter is Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, who’s already said he’s not going though he may address the gathering remotely. Without Mr. Putin in the audience, Mr. Biden won’t pass up the chance to rally support for Ukraine, condemn Moscow, and urge the Russians to withdraw and stop bombing and shelling Ukraine towns and citiesAlso missing, not surprisingly — Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who, like Mr. Putin, may be talking remotely.Wherever he goes, Mr. Biden will be treading delicately on sharply conflicting differences. He’s sure, at Phnom Penh and then Bali, to be chatting with South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk-yeol, and Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida.Most Asean members want nothing to do with South Korea’s confrontation with North Korea considering that Vietnam is a communist country and China is the North’s closest ally. They’re also sensitive about Japan in view of Japan’s record as an imperial power before and during World War II, and then Japan’s dominance as a trade partner with all of them.

At Next Week’s G20 Conference, President Biden Will Want a Word With Xi Jinping

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