‘America is back’
US President Joe Biden on Thursday promised a new era after the scattershot foreign policy of his predecessor, Donald Trump, declaring "America is back" on the global stage in his first diplomatic address as president.
In his speech, Biden signaled aggressive approaches to China and Russia, urged Myanmar's military leaders to halt their coup, and declared an end to US support for a Saudi Arabia-led military campaign in Yemen.
Biden also froze former president Donald Trump's plans to redeploy troops from Germany and dramatically increased the annual number of refugees whom US will accept.
"American leadership must meet this new moment of advancing authoritarianism, including the growing ambitions of China to rival the United States and the determination of Russia to damage and disrupt our democracy. We must meet the new moment ... accelerating global challenges from the pandemic to the climate crisis to nuclear proliferation," said Biden.
Trump angered European and Asian leaders with tariffs, fracturing of global alliances, and threats to withdraw US troops. He did little to push back against a wave of authoritarianism in some countries.
After a Trump-inspired mob attacked the US Capitol on Jan. 6, protesting Biden's election win, foreign allies and rivals alike expressed doubts about the health of American democracy.
Biden's speech on Thursday was a full-throated attempt to vanquish those doubts, and convince Americans of the value of a forceful international approach.
"Investing in our diplomacy isn't something we do just because it's the right thing to do for the world," he said. "We do it in order to live in peace, security and prosperity. We do it because it's in our own naked self-interest."
"America is back. Diplomacy is back," Biden told a socially distanced auditorium of diplomats.
Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris traveled together to the State Department in a symbol of a renewed focus on diplomacy.
The venue choice for his first big diplomatic address was an important symbol of the value he places in career diplomats, who Trump largely saw as opponents.
"American alliances are our greatest asset. And leading with diplomacy means standing shoulder to shoulder with our allies and key partners once again," Biden said.
Biden in his early days has attempted to repair what he has called the damage to America's standing around the world, rolling back Trump policies. He is working to revive the Iran deal, and renewed US membership in the Paris accord and the World Health Organization.
Biden said the United States would end all support including connected arms sales for ally Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, which he said "has created a humanitarian and strategic catastrophe."
He appointed a US special envoy for Yemen, veteran diplomat Timothy Lenderking, who Biden said would support UN efforts to reach a ceasefire and revive peace talks between the government and Huthi rebels who control much of the country, including the capital Sanaa.
"This war has to end," Biden said. But he also reasserted US support for defensing Saudi Arabia's sovereignty and its territorial integrity and its people.
Saudi Arabia reacted to Biden's speech by reasserting its commitment to a political solution in Yemen, according to state media. Riyadh also welcomed Biden's commitment to cooperate with the kingdom to defend its sovereignty, the official Saudi Press Agency added.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said he will revisit Trump's last-minute designation of the Huthis as a terrorist group.
Biden also challenged Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"I made it clear to President Putin, in a manner very different from my predecessor, that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia's aggressive actions, interfering with our elections, cyberattacks, poisoning its citizens, are over," he said.
Moments before the speech, the State Department said that Blinken spoke by telephone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and, among other issues, raised the purported poisoning of opposition leader Alexei Navalny -- who was arrested last month on his return to Moscow and has inspired thousands to take to the streets.
The Kremlin yesterday slammed Biden's "very aggressive rhetoric".
Trump had initially sought a warm relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping but differences over trade, Hong Kong and what the US military calls Beijing's destabilizing and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea prompted a rift.
China, which is expanding its military and working to grow its influence around the world, is perhaps Biden's biggest international challenge as he begins his presidency. He called Beijing "our most serious competitor."
"We'll confront China's economic abuses, counter its aggressive, coercive action to push back on China's attack on human rights, intellectual property and global governance. But we're ready to work with Beijing when it's in America's interest to do so," he said.
In another sharp reversal, Biden said the United States will welcome up to 125,000 refugees in the first fiscal year of his administration -- far above the record-low 15,000 last approved by Trump, who was a vociferous critic of non-Western immigration.
Among groups seeking asylum, Biden said his administration would welcome LGBTQ people fleeing persecution over their sexual orientation.
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