New Delhi: US President Biden would be travelling to Japan for the second in-person Quad summit, following the summit he hosted in Washington last September. During the quad summit, he would hold a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said.
"In Japan, President Biden won’t just have a bilateral program, he’ll also have the opportunity to participate in the second in-person Quad Summit, following on the summit he hosted here in Washington last September", Sullivan informed media.
"He will do this alongside the Prime Minister of Japan, the Prime Minister of India, and the Prime Minister of Australia. And we believe that this summit will demonstrate, both in substance and in vision, that democracies can deliver and that these four nations working together will defend and uphold the principles of a free and open Indo-Pacific", added the National security advisor.
While he’s in Tokyo, President Biden will also launch a new, ambitious economic initiative for the region: the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. “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", Jake Sullivan said.
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President Biden will be joined in person by the Prime Minister of Japan for the launch of IPEF and virtually by leaders from several Indo-Pacific partners, from Down Under to Southeast Asia to Northeast Asia. "On security and economics, on technology and energy, on investment in infrastructure, Sullivan said, " this trip is going to put on full display President Biden’s Indo-Pacific strategy and that it will show, in living colour, that the United States can at once lead the free world in responding to Russia’s war in Ukraine and at the same time chart a course for effective, principled American leadership and engagement in a region that will define much of the future of the 21st century".
Before arriving in Japan, Biden is scheduled to travel to South Korea for a summit meeting with its leaders. This will be his first trip as President to the Indo-Pacific. And it comes at a pivotal moment. “The message we’re trying to send on this trip is a message of an affirmative vision of what the world can look like if the democracies and open societies of the world stand together to shape the rules of the road to define the security architecture of the region to reinforce strong, powerful historic alliances,” Sullivan said.
"President Biden made a series of significant announcements to show that when it comes to engagement with ASEAN, we’re not just talking the talk, we’re walking the walk as well", Sullivan added. Sullivan said that this week, the President turns his attention to Northeast Asia. "And on this trip, he will have the opportunity to reaffirm and reinforce two vital security alliances, deepen two vibrant economic partnerships, work with two fellow democracies to shape the rules of the road for the 21st century, and thank his allies in Korea and Japan for their remarkable and in some ways unexpected contributions to the effort to support Ukraine and to hold Russia accountable".
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In Korea, President Biden will meet with the newly inaugurated Korean President, President Yoon, who campaigned on the platform of strengthening the U.S.-ROK alliance and on improving relations between the ROK and Japan. President Biden will engage with technology and manufacturing leaders in Korea who are mobilizing billions of dollars in investment here in the United States to create thousands of good-paying American jobs, Sullivan told reporters.
He will see American and Korean troops standing shoulder to shoulder in defence of our collective security and consult on the challenge posed by the DPRK’s nuclear and missile programs, added National Security Advisor. And he will highlight the truly global nature of the U.S.-ROK alliance, from climate and energy and technology to economic growth and investment.
