Joe Biden's Asia trip

By Zhao Jinglun
0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, December 6, 2013
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Media reports have generally linked U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden Jr.'s Asia trip with tensions in the region over China's newly declared Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). Washington said it was "deeply concerned" about the move. It is understandable that the U.S. would stand together with its ally Japan, but its views about the issue are not identical to those of Shinzo Abe's right-wing Japanese government.

[By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]

 [By Jiao Haiyang/China.org.cn]


Tokyo wants to dramatize the ADIZ issue in order to hijack Washington in a serious fight against China. Japan had planned to ask Washington to take part in a formal statement demanding that China rescind its ADIZ. Biden did not go along with the plan. Instead, he called on Japan and China to find ways to reduce tensions over the issue. In other words, Washington did not allow its little brother to lead it by the nose.

In fact, the ADIZ issue has been blown out of proportion. Only a handful of countries objected. Fifty-five airlines in nineteen countries and three regions have filed flight plans with China. Unbiased people have confidence in China's peaceful intent.

According to a White House statement, Biden's trip is designed to "underscore our commitment to rebalancing U.S. foreign policy towards the Asia-Pacific." It is in part to dispel the doubts of U.S. allies, resulting from Obama's absence from the ASEAN summit.

Biden was in Tokyo primarily to persuade Japan to engage in talks about joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

READ Biden's visit: Sino-US Progress, despite distrust

The U.S. Vice President traveled to China to firm up U.S.-China relations which both sides describe as the most important bilateral relations in the world. Washington needs to tread more carefully in dealings with an increasingly powerful China. Biden, as an experienced statesman, recognizes this. "This is a hugely consequential relationship that is going to affect the course of the 21st century," he said, after being welcomed by China's Vice President Li Yuanchao.

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