By Associated Press
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA: President Joe Biden and the leaders of Japan and South Korea on Sunday vowed a unified, coordinated response to North Korea’s threatening nuclear and ballistic missile programs, with Biden declaring that the three-way partnership is тАЬeven more important than it’s ever beenтАЭ when North Korea is stepping up its provocations.
Biden met separately with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol before all three sat down together on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Cambodia.
The U.S. president began by offering condolences for a crowd surge during Halloween festivities in Seoul that killed more than 150 people, saying the U.S. had grieved with South Korea. The meeting was heavily focused on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s recent escalations, although Biden said the three leaders would also discuss strengthening supply chains and preserving peace across the Taiwan strait while building on the countries’ support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.
Biden had also planned to seek input from Kishida and Yoon on managing ChinaтАЩs assertive posture in the Pacific region on the eve of his face-to-face with President Xi Jinping.
тАЬWe face real challenges, but our countries are more aligned than ever, more prepared to take on those challenges than ever,тАЭ Biden said. тАЬSo I look forward to deepening the bonds of cooperation between our three countries.тАЭ
Both Yoon and Kishida discussed the ongoing displays of aggression by North Korea, which has fired dozens of missiles in recent weeks. The launches include an intercontinental ballistic missile 10 days ago that triggered evacuation alerts in northern Japan, and the allies warn of a looming risk of the isolated country conducting its seventh nuclear test in the coming weeks.
Referring to the crowd surge that occurred in the Itaewon neighbourhood in Seoul, Yoon said, through an interpreter: тАЬAt a time when South Koreans are grieving in deep sorrow, North Korea pushed ahead with such provocations which lay bare the Kim Jong Un regime’s true inclinations.тАЭ
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Saturday that Biden would use the meetings to strengthen the three countries’ joint response to the dangers posed by North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
тАЬWhat we would really like to see is enhanced trilateral security cooperation where the three countries are all coming together,тАЭ he said. тАЬThatтАЩs acutely true with respect to the DPRK because of the common threat and challenge we all face, but itтАЩs also true, more broadly, about our capacity to work together to enhance overall peace and stability in the region.тАЭREAD |┬аWhy is Kim firing so many missiles? US-South Korea drills, experts say
Rising tensions, Talks with Xi
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have skyrocketed in recent months as the North continues its weapons demonstrations and the U.S. and South Korea launched stepped-up joint defence exercises.┬аEarlier this month, the South Korean military said two B-1B bombers trained with four U.S. F-16 fighter jets and four South Korean F-35 jets during the last day of тАЬVigilant StormтАЭ joint air force drills.
It was the first time since December 2017 that the bombers were deployed to the Korean Peninsula. The exercise involved a total of roughly 240 warplanes, including advanced F-35 fighter jets from both countries. North Korea responded with its own display of force, flying large numbers of warplanes inside its territory.
The Biden administration has said it has sent repeated requests to negotiate with North Korea without preconditions on constraining its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, but that Kim Jong Un’s government has not responded.
Biden has said he plans to press Xi to use China’s unique sway over North Korea to curtail its aggressive behaviour, as part of what is expected to be a wide-ranging meeting between the leaders on the margins of the Group of 20 gathering in Bali, Indonesia.
China “has an interest in playing a constructive role in restraining North KoreaтАЩs worst tendencies,тАЭ Sullivan said Saturday. тАЬWhether they choose to do so or not is, of course, up to them.тАЭALSO READ |┬аBiden to press Xi Jinping on North┬аKorea in G20 talks
Biden told reporters on Sunday that heтАЩs тАЬalways had straightforward discussionsтАЭ with Xi, and that has prevented either of them from тАЬmiscalculationsтАЭ of their intentions. Their meeting comes weeks after Xi cemented his grip on ChinaтАЩs political system with the conclusion of the Community Party congress in Beijing that gave him a norm-breaking third term as leader.
тАЬHis circumstances changed, to state the obvious, at home,тАЭ Biden said of Xi. Biden maintained that his own have as well, saying that after Democrats retained control of the Senate in the midterm elections, тАЬI know IтАЩm coming in stronger.”
Monday’s meeting will be the first in-person sit-down between the leaders since Biden was elected. U.S. officials in the past have expressed frustration that lower-level Chinese officials have proven unable or unwilling to speak for Xi, and are hoping the face-to-face summit will enable progress on areas of mutual concern тАФ and, even more critically, a shared understanding of each other’s limitations.
тАЬI know him well, he knows me,тАЭ Biden said. тАЬWeтАЩve just got to figure out where the red lines are and what are the most important things to each of us, going into the next two years.тАЭ
As president, Biden has repeatedly taken China to task for human rights abuses against the Uyghur people and other ethnic minorities, BeijingтАЩs crackdowns on democracy activists in Hong Kong, coercive trade practices, military provocations against self-ruled Taiwan and differences over RussiaтАЩs prosecution of its war against Ukraine.
XiтАЩs government has criticized the Biden administrationтАЩs posture toward Taiwan тАФ which Beijing looks eventually to unify with the communist mainland тАФ as undermining ChinaтАЩs sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Chinese president also has suggested that Washington wants to stifle BeijingтАЩs growing clout as it tries to overtake the U.S. as the worldтАЩs largest economy.
Biden also spoke briefly with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has sought out his own meeting with Xi this week in an effort to ease Chinese sanctions against his country.
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA: President Joe Biden and the leaders of Japan and South Korea on Sunday vowed a unified, coordinated response to North Korea’s threatening nuclear and ballistic missile programs, with Biden declaring that the three-way partnership is тАЬeven more important than it’s ever beenтАЭ when North Korea is stepping up its provocations.
Biden met separately with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol before all three sat down together on the sidelines of the East Asia Summit in Cambodia.
The U.S. president began by offering condolences for a crowd surge during Halloween festivities in Seoul that killed more than 150 people, saying the U.S. had grieved with South Korea. The meeting was heavily focused on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s recent escalations, although Biden said the three leaders would also discuss strengthening supply chains and preserving peace across the Taiwan strait while building on the countries’ support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.
Biden had also planned to seek input from Kishida and Yoon on managing ChinaтАЩs assertive posture in the Pacific region on the eve of his face-to-face with President Xi Jinping.
тАЬWe face real challenges, but our countries are more aligned than ever, more prepared to take on those challenges than ever,тАЭ Biden said. тАЬSo I look forward to deepening the bonds of cooperation between our three countries.тАЭ
Both Yoon and Kishida discussed the ongoing displays of aggression by North Korea, which has fired dozens of missiles in recent weeks. The launches include an intercontinental ballistic missile 10 days ago that triggered evacuation alerts in northern Japan, and the allies warn of a looming risk of the isolated country conducting its seventh nuclear test in the coming weeks.
Referring to the crowd surge that occurred in the Itaewon neighbourhood in Seoul, Yoon said, through an interpreter: тАЬAt a time when South Koreans are grieving in deep sorrow, North Korea pushed ahead with such provocations which lay bare the Kim Jong Un regime’s true inclinations.тАЭ
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Saturday that Biden would use the meetings to strengthen the three countries’ joint response to the dangers posed by North Korea, officially known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
тАЬWhat we would really like to see is enhanced trilateral security cooperation where the three countries are all coming together,тАЭ he said. тАЬThatтАЩs acutely true with respect to the DPRK because of the common threat and challenge we all face, but itтАЩs also true, more broadly, about our capacity to work together to enhance overall peace and stability in the region.тАЭREAD |┬аWhy is Kim firing so many missiles? US-South Korea drills, experts say
Rising tensions, Talks with Xi
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have skyrocketed in recent months as the North continues its weapons demonstrations and the U.S. and South Korea launched stepped-up joint defence exercises.┬аEarlier this month, the South Korean military said two B-1B bombers trained with four U.S. F-16 fighter jets and four South Korean F-35 jets during the last day of тАЬVigilant StormтАЭ joint air force drills.
It was the first time since December 2017 that the bombers were deployed to the Korean Peninsula. The exercise involved a total of roughly 240 warplanes, including advanced F-35 fighter jets from both countries. North Korea responded with its own display of force, flying large numbers of warplanes inside its territory.
The Biden administration has said it has sent repeated requests to negotiate with North Korea without preconditions on constraining its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, but that Kim Jong Un’s government has not responded.
Biden has said he plans to press Xi to use China’s unique sway over North Korea to curtail its aggressive behaviour, as part of what is expected to be a wide-ranging meeting between the leaders on the margins of the Group of 20 gathering in Bali, Indonesia.
China “has an interest in playing a constructive role in restraining North KoreaтАЩs worst tendencies,тАЭ Sullivan said Saturday. тАЬWhether they choose to do so or not is, of course, up to them.тАЭALSO READ |┬аBiden to press Xi Jinping on North┬аKorea in G20 talks
Biden told reporters on Sunday that heтАЩs тАЬalways had straightforward discussionsтАЭ with Xi, and that has prevented either of them from тАЬmiscalculationsтАЭ of their intentions. Their meeting comes weeks after Xi cemented his grip on ChinaтАЩs political system with the conclusion of the Community Party congress in Beijing that gave him a norm-breaking third term as leader.
тАЬHis circumstances changed, to state the obvious, at home,тАЭ Biden said of Xi. Biden maintained that his own have as well, saying that after Democrats retained control of the Senate in the midterm elections, тАЬI know IтАЩm coming in stronger.”
Monday’s meeting will be the first in-person sit-down between the leaders since Biden was elected. U.S. officials in the past have expressed frustration that lower-level Chinese officials have proven unable or unwilling to speak for Xi, and are hoping the face-to-face summit will enable progress on areas of mutual concern тАФ and, even more critically, a shared understanding of each other’s limitations.
тАЬI know him well, he knows me,тАЭ Biden said. тАЬWeтАЩve just got to figure out where the red lines are and what are the most important things to each of us, going into the next two years.тАЭ
As president, Biden has repeatedly taken China to task for human rights abuses against the Uyghur people and other ethnic minorities, BeijingтАЩs crackdowns on democracy activists in Hong Kong, coercive trade practices, military provocations against self-ruled Taiwan and differences over RussiaтАЩs prosecution of its war against Ukraine.
XiтАЩs government has criticized the Biden administrationтАЩs posture toward Taiwan тАФ which Beijing looks eventually to unify with the communist mainland тАФ as undermining ChinaтАЩs sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Chinese president also has suggested that Washington wants to stifle BeijingтАЩs growing clout as it tries to overtake the U.S. as the worldтАЩs largest economy.
Biden also spoke briefly with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has sought out his own meeting with Xi this week in an effort to ease Chinese sanctions against his country.
