President Joe Biden‘s meeting with leaders of the G7 leading industrial economies in an English seaside village this week will usher in a new focus on rallying U.S. allies against common adversaries – the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia and China.
New COVID-19 variants and rising death tolls in some countries will loom large during the gathering from Friday to Sunday, alongside climate change, strengthening global supply chains and ensuring the West maintains its technological edge over China, the world’s second-largest economy.
Biden, a Democrat, vowed to rebuild relations with allies after four rocky years under former President Donald Trump, who pulled Washington out of several multilateral institutions and threatened at one point to quit NATO.
“The trip, at its core, will advance the fundamental thrust of Joe Biden‘s foreign policy to rally the world’s democracies to tackle the greatest challenges of our time,” White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters at a briefing on Monday.
The gathering will put Biden‘s “America is back” motto to the test, with allies disillusioned during the Trump years looking for tangible, lasting action.
TENSIONS WITH RUSSIA
Russia will be at the forefront of attention at the G7 summit in Cornwall, England, and the days afterward when Biden meets with European leaders and NATO allies in Brussels, before heading to Geneva to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.
U.S. officials are considering sharper action against Russia after two incidents. These are the recent ransomware attack on JBS, the world’s largest meatpacker, by a criminal group likely based in Russia. Also Putin gave financial backing to Belarus after it forced a Ryanair flight to land so it could arrest a dissident journalist on board are pushing.
Biden‘s meeting with Putin is not a “reward” for Putin but instead the most effective way to hear directly from him to understand and manage the differences between Washington and Moscow, Sullivan said.
“There is simply a lot we have to work through,” he said.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg met Biden at the White House on Monday and told reporters afterward that the challenges the allies will confront at their summit will be Russia, China, cyberhacks and climate change, among others.
He said a rising China with its military buildup poses a problem because “they don’t share our values.”
“We see that in the way they crack down on democratic protests in Hong Kong, how they deal with minorities… and how they coerce neighbors… Taiwan. So we need to stand up for the rules-based national order,” he said.
On Russia, Stoltenberg said, “we agree on the dual-track approach, meaning deterrence, defense and dialogue with Russia.”
Sullivan said Biden will stress the importance of NATO countries’ burden-sharing and the need for allies to contribute to alliance exercises and operations. He added that the United States will respond if Russia’s “harmful” activities against Washington continue.
Sullivan said Biden spoke with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Monday and reassured him that he would defend Ukraine’s sovereignty in his talks with Putin.
According to Sullivan, he also said he hoped the G7 nations would come up with an “action plan” to increase their collective defenses against ransomware attacks and deal with the challenges posed by cryptocurrency, which, he said, “lies at the core of how these ransom transactions are played out.”
On the sidelines of a NATO summit in Brussels on June 14, Biden is also expected to meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, a crucial session between the sparring NATO allies after Ankara’s purchase of Russian defense systems angered Washington and risked driving a wedge within the alliance.
Sullivan said the talks with Erdogan would be expansive, covering the eastern Mediterranean, Syria and Afghanistan as well as how to deal with the differences that have arisen between the two countries.
He said that Biden and Erdogan, who have known each other for many years now, were looking forward to having a “business-like” opportunity to have a broad review of bilateral ties.
(Reporting
June 9: Biden and his wife, Jill, depart on Wednesday morning from Washington. Their first stop in the UK will be at Royal Air Force Mildenhall to greet U.S. Air Force personnel stationed there. Mildenhall is home to the 100th Air Refueling Wing, the only permanent U.S. Air Force air refueling wing in the European theater.
June 10: Biden will meet British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in Cornwall, England, site of the G7 summit, to reaffirm the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.
June 11: Biden will attend the G7 summit for three days starting on Friday, to work on U.S. policy priorities such as the economy and allied unity.
June 12: Biden will attend more G7 summit meetings in Cornwall and have bilateral meetings with fellow G7 leaders.
June 13: Biden will finish his meetings at the G7 summit. Afterward, the Bidens will meet Britain’s Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle. Then Biden will travel to Brussels for the night.
June 14: Biden will meet NATO leaders and have a private meeting with the president of Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan.
June 15: Biden will hold more NATO meetings and then fly to Geneva for the night.
June 16: Biden will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, their first face-to-face meeting since Biden became president. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday it was unclear whether the two leaders would hold a joint news conference after their talks. (Reporting
