If elected, Biden likely to focus on human rights

Potential US President Joe Biden's foreign policy will emphasise on strengthening democracy and human rights globally -- a shift from that of incumbent President Donald Trump who focused on trade, said international relations analysts at Washington, DC.

As part of that, Biden will also put pressure on Myanmar, which has a bad human rights record, especially in its treatment of Rohingyas and some other ethnic groups, they said.

"Obviously, the Biden administration will have more focus on the Rohingya issue than that of Trump. It's been a terrible issue and a tragic thing for long," said Michael Kugleman, deputy director and senior associate for South Asia at the Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington, DC.

Zack Cooper, research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, Washington, DC, echoed Kugleman's view while interacting with foreign journalists virtually at the 2020 US Presidential Election Reporting Seminar on Friday, organised by the Hawaii-based East-West Centre.

In response to a question by The Daily Star, he said the Trump administration made some important statements on the Rohingyas in 2017, but Biden will be much more vocal about it as he would emphasise on human rights and democracy issues globally as part of his foreign policy.

So far, the international community has provided some humanitarian support to nearly a million Rohingya refugees, who fled military crackdown in Myanmar's Rakhine State in 2017, but not for a sustainable repatriation to their homeland where they are denied citizenship and basic human rights.

Asked how the US-Bangladesh relationship would look like under the Biden administration, Kugleman  said Bangladesh so far has not generated as much attention in the US policy considerations as that of India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Policymakers of both Republican and Democratic parties are quite concerned about a terrorist attack that took place in Bangladesh a few years back, and also the crackdown on freedom of speech and political opposition.

He thinks Biden will be working with Bangladesh on human rights, governance and democracy issues as well as strengthen economic relations.

US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun during his recent visit to Dhaka termed Bangladesh a key country under its Indo-Pacific Strategy that aims at a free and open Indo-Pacific and improving relations with allies in Asia, where China's influence is growing.

Kugleman said the Biden administration will work very closely with India, Bangladesh and other South Asian countries to promote trade, human rights, democracy and good governance.

The analysts said the US Asia policy under Biden would mostly be looked at from the China angle. Biden may not be confrontational with China like Trump, but rivalry with China is going to persist for some time.

Xi Jinping and his Chinese Communist Party are not at all popular in the US, they said, adding that while China has tremendous economic influence globally, there are questions over governance, transparency, and environmental issues in the investments that it makes overseas.

Zack Cooper said Biden is likely to have a positive approach with China, instead of a confrontational one. He has a shared vision, not just a negative China vision and will work on relations in ways that he can.

Murray Hiebert, senior associate for the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, Washington, DC, said as US foreign policy under Biden would focus on protecting human rights, it could result in some pressures on the countries with a bad record on that front.

Biden talked about holding a global summit on democracy for the purpose of rallying behind countries that are often called part of the free world to confront nations that have been backsliding and help them fight corruption, authoritarianism and improve their human rights record, he said.

Biden will also call on the private sector, including tech groups, to promote free speech and democratic societies, he said.