President Biden departed Wednesday for Hiroshima, Japan, where the leaders of the Group of Seven industrial powers will discuss the road ahead in the Ukraine war and a unified approach to dealing with Chinese aggression, even as fears of a U.S. debt default threaten to overshadow the high-stakes talks.
With time dwindling to reach a deal to increase the nation’s borrowing limit before a potentially catastrophic default that comes as soon as June 1, Mr. Biden was forced to cut short his Asia trip.
Mr. Biden had initially scheduled a week-long three-nation trip that included stops in Papua New Guinea and Australia after the three-day G-7 meeting in Japan. He scrapped those visits and announced he’d return to Washington to take part in debt-ceiling negotiations with congressional leaders.
The schedule change underscores how much Mr. Biden has been consumed with the risk of the U.S. defaulting on its debts.
“I’ve cut my trip short in order to be here for the final negotiations and sign the deal with the majority leader,” Mr. Biden said in remarks before departing the White House. “I’ve made clear America is not a deadbeat nation, we pay our bills.”
The second leg of Mr. Biden’s trip was aimed at shoring up U.S. alliances with Indo-Pacific nations to counter Chinese expansion in the region, and to advertise America’s determination to remain engaged in the region as Beijing’s wealth and power expand.
While in Hiroshima, Mr. Biden will sit down separately with the heads of Japan, Australia and India — the leaders of the “Quad” nations the U.S. has promoted as a counterweight to China in the region. The four leaders had originally been scheduled for more extensive talks in Australia before Mr. Biden scrubbed that trip.
When asked if shortening the trip was a win for China, Mr. Biden said, “No, … because we still work with allies.” That did not stop China’s leading state-controlled media organs from highlighting the truncated trip and what they said was the dysfunction and division in Washington.
The top challenge for the annual, three-day G-7 summit is whether it can present a unified approach on dealing with China and the use of “economic coercion” by Beijing. China has been accused of using its economic clout and rising military power to intimidate nations in the region and challenge the U.S.-led international economic order.
While the G7 leaders are expected to release a statement that will express concern for China’s tactics and outline ways they can work together on the issue, it is unclear how far Japan and European members will go to antagonize Beijing, given their reliance on Chinese trade. Mr. Biden and his top aides in recent weeks have also tried to tone down the hostile rhetoric toward China, after the downing of a Chinese surveillance balloon in February sent bilateral ties plummeting.
European officials say Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine will be a major topic of the summit, with the G-7 leaders expected to express strong support for Kyiv and explore ways to pressure Russia.
“I would call this a geopolitical G-7 which will tackle a massive security crisis, which is the Russian aggression against Ukraine,” an aide to French President Emmanuel Macron told the Reuters news agency. The G-7 nations include the U.S., Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Italy.
North Korea is also likely to figure in the leaders’ talks, with Mr. Biden planning to meet separately with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, the summit host, and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol for a trilateral discussion on coordinating policy to deter Pyongyang. Mr. Kishida, whose family hails from Hiroshima, also hopes to use the summit to highlight the more general risks of global nuclear proliferation, aides said.
Also on Mr. Biden’s agenda is a visit to the Hiroshima peace memorial, which commemorates those killed in the U.S. nuclear bomb attack on the city in the final days of World War II.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the president will not issue an apology for the use of a nuclear bomb or make any statement at the memorial.
“This is him as one of the G7 leaders coming to pay respects,” Mr. Sullivan said.
• This story is based in part on wire service reports.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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