Biden’s Asia Pacific booster plan thwarted  

JOE Biden began his presidency with Asia-Pacific as the focal point of his foreign policy. Yet almost two and a half years later, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has dramatically recast his international priorities.

Around 450 days into that conflict, the biggest international legacy that Biden may leave as president, especially if he fails to win a second term, will probably be his determined defence of Ukraine. Plus also his wider statecraft which has seen the rebuilding of the fragile Western alliance after the Trump presidency.

However, he has not lost sight of a longer-term ambition to intensify the US “pivot” to the Asia-Pacific. For while Russia remains the major immediate threat to Washington’s security interests, this has done little to alter the administration’s view that China remains the paramount longer-term challenge.