While he took an uncompromising stance against Russia’s brutal war and warned against appeasing Moscow, he struck a more measured line on China, reiterating his pledge to “reduce Beijing’s aggression and intimidation,” while he sought ways to cooperate and denied trying to contain the Asian giant. “We try to manage competition between our countries responsibly so that it does not lead to conflict,” he said.
Mr. Biden listed a litany of other major problems facing the world today, such as fentanyl abuse, artificial intelligence, terrorism, human rights, women’s rights, LGBT rights and gun control, without breaking much new ground on any of them. He highlighted the dangers of climate change and urged more action to combat it, citing heat waves, forest fires, drought and the floods in Libya.
“Together, these snapshots tell an urgent story about what lies ahead if we fail to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and climate-proof the world,” he said. Under his administration, he said, “from the moment we came to power, the United States has regarded this crisis as the existential threat not only to us, but to all humanity.”
Mr Biden will use his time at the United Nations this week to meet with other world leaders. He met Tuesday afternoon with the leaders of the five Central Asian republics that were formerly part of the Soviet Union — Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan — the first time a president has sat down collectively with his counterparts from those countries fed up.
The “Stans,” as they are often called by diplomats, have been a key area of competition between Russia and China in the years since they gained independence from the collapse of the Soviet Union, but the United States has also sought influence there, especially during the Soviet Union. the ill-fated war in Afghanistan. Biden’s meeting with their leaders is in line with his strategy to strengthen relations with countries in China’s neighborhood to counter Beijing’s assertive actions.