With inflation, gas prices on voters' minds, Biden's domestic agenda muddied by war in Ukraine
USA TodaySep 09, 2022
The Facts
On Wed., White House officials announced that Biden will make his first trip to Asia as president next month, visiting South Korea and Japan from May 20-24.
He will hold bilateral meetings with South Korea's newly elected Pres. Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese PM Kishida Fumio, as well as a "Quad" meeting with the leaders of Australia, India, and Japan.
The Spin
Establishment-critical narrative
The "Quad" can only promote exclusion, as it's based on an old-fashioned US mentality of hegemony as well as ideological and military conflict. As a better alternative, all nations in the region should work together to support collective security, stability, and prosperity.
Pro-establishment narrative
This trip will send a strong message to Pyongyang and Beijing by showing that Biden seeks to strengthen the US' relationship with its allies. The US is committed to a free and open Indo-Pacific, and these alliances are vital to ensuring a rules-based global order.
Cynical narrative
It's unclear whether the Quad will actually amount to much in the end. It has a ways to go as a functional group, and all four countries believe economic relations can be separated from geopolitics - a thought Beijing concurs with too. Without a strategic vision or even an agenda, the Quad has a lot of work to do before it can even begin to make an impact.
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