Biden’s maiden Asia tour all about building a front against China

US President Joe Biden’s maiden Asia tour since taking the office early last year is all about building a front against China as he sets off to establish a mega economic forum next week designed to curb the Asian country's growing economic clout.

According to Press TV, the high-profile tour, which kicked off in South Korea on Friday, is seen as a bold and adventurous move by Washington to confront China’s increasing economic power in the region in particular and in the world in general.

His goal is largely evident from the fact that he will next week launch the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), a mega “economic arrangement”, in the Japanese capital Tokyo, his second destination during his five-day Asian trip.

Apart from the US itself, the IPEF is expected to bring together India, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines as its members. More members could be added later, according to reports.

US National Security Adviser (NSA) Jake Sullivan on Wednesday, while confirming that Biden will launch the IPEE, described the so-called forum as “a new, ambitious economic initiative for the region.”

The IPEF is a “21st-century economic arrangement, a new model designed to tackle new economic challenges - from setting the rules of the digital economy, to ensuring secure and resilient supply chains, to managing the energy transition, to investing in clean, modern, high-standards infrastructure,” he added.

What the senior Biden aide emphasized was that the alliance would send a powerful message to China.

“We think that message will be heard everywhere. We think it will be heard in Beijing,” he said.

The development comes as the Biden administration is trying to increase its footprints in Southeast Asia by resetting ties with regional countries in an attempt to form a military coalition against China, which has time and again said that Washington is expanding militarism in the regions far from its borders, while it tries to justify its military presence in the Southeast Asian region by making baseless allegations against Beijing.

China claims the South China Sea in its entirety. The Philippines, Malaysia, two would-be members of the IPEF, and Vietnam, as well as Brunei, have overlapping claims to parts of the sea. 

The US and its allies side with Beijing's rival claimants in the maritime disputes in the South China Sea, while China has always warned the US against military activities in the waters.

ME