PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA \u2014\u00a0Leaving behind a better-than-expected Democratic performance in the November 8 Congressional elections, U.S. President Joe Biden heads to a whirlwind week of diplomacy with Southeast Asian and Indo-Pacific leaders amid an intensifying rivalry with China, Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine, and increased provocations from North Korea.<\/p>\n
Here are the key points he\u2019ll be dealing with during his trip to Cambodia and Indonesia:<\/p>\n
Summits, bilateral meetings<\/strong><\/p>\n Biden is set to arrive in Phnom Penh Saturday morning after attending COP27, the United Nations Climate Conference in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.<\/p>\n In Cambodia, he will participate in the ASEAN\u2013U.S. Summit with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and in the East Asia Summit (EAS), a grouping of ASEAN and dialogue partners Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea, Russia, and the United States.<\/p>\n He will meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen, chair of the 10 Southeast Asian nations bloc this year, and the region\u2019s longest-ruling dictator who has been in office in Cambodia since 1985.<\/p>\n Biden heads to Bali, Indonesia, Sunday for the G-20 summit with leaders of the world\u2019s 20 largest economies. On Monday, he is set to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping \u2013 their first in-person engagement since Biden took office in 2021.<\/p>\n He will meet summit host Indonesian President Joko Widodo, as well as the new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who also has recently taken office.<\/p>\n He\u2019ll hold bilateral and trilateral meetings with the prime minister of Japan and the president of Korea to discuss the continuing threats posed by North Korea.<\/p>\n Security issues<\/strong><\/p>\n Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine, Chinese increased militarization in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait, and North Korean missile and nuclear threats will be areas of focus for Biden during his visit, along with finding areas of cooperation on transnational challenges such as climate change, preventing future pandemics, and global food and energy security.<\/p>\n It will be tricky diplomacy as Biden tries to compete against Beijing\u2019s influence in Southeast Asia and broaden the coalition to isolate Moscow. Countries in the region rely on Beijing for economic growth but need Washington\u2019s security umbrella to deter China\u2019s increasingly muscular military posture. Some count on Russia\u2019s role as balancer amid this U.S.-China rivalry.<\/p>\n The region\u2019s biggest source of anxiety is escalation between Washington and Beijing, according to Evan Laksmana, senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat happens if there’s a Taiwan contingency scenario and the U.S. requests access to Singapore, to Indonesia, to the Philippines? Will they allow access, and therefore put us in the crosshairs of the Chinese? This is something that the region doesn’t have an answer to yet,\u201d he told VOA.<\/p>\n In addition, Biden will be in Asia amid increased military maneuvers from North Korea, including missile launches and military flights near its border with South Korea. In an interview with VOA, John Kirby, White House National Security Council\u2019s director of strategic communications, said the U.S. is prepared for more provocations from Kim Jong Un while Biden is in the region \u2014 including Pyongyang\u2019s first nuclear test since 2017.<\/p>\n Balancing act<\/strong><\/p>\n In Phnom Penh, ASEAN will hold related summits with partners including China, Russia, and the United States. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang will attend the meetings in Phnom Penh, while Moscow is sending Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.<\/p>\n These meetings provide a way for the bloc to manage regional fault lines on conflicts that include territorial disputes in the South China Sea among some of its members and Beijing, the military coup in Myanmar, and now Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n ASEAN countries have varying degrees of trade and security ties with Washington, Beijing and Moscow. As with the U.S.-China competition, they are wary of their interests being damaged by competition between the West and Moscow. \u201cThese countries are going to be reluctant to do anything that upsets the balance,\u201d Stacie Goddard, who teaches great power politics at Wellesley College told VOA.<\/p>\n Biden\u2019s Phnom Penh visit will build on the May special summit he hosted in Washington, where he announced modest additional funding to increase engagement with Southeast Asian nations, including in the maritime domain. He is set to sign the ASEAN-U.S. Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, a similar agreement to one the bloc entered with China in 2021.<\/p>\n