Biden Gets No Fresh Starts on Complicated U.S. Foreign Policy
Domestic accomplishments aside, the president faces ongoing challenges from Russia, China, and Iran.
Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken participate in a virtual meeting with leaders of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue countries on March 21.
Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images
“America is back,” President Biden said in February, promising a diplomacy-centered reset of foreign policy. When it comes to three fraught relationships, the approach so far is a mix of continuity and change.
KEY ISSUES:
Trade war, China’s claims over Taiwan and the South China Sea, human-rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong
● Biden has maintained his predecessor’s tough rhetoric toward the U.S.’s main rival and has declined to lift the tariffs Trump imposed.
● Early meetings with the leaders of India, Japan, and South Korea suggest the administration is shoring up alliances in the Indo-Pacific to counter Beijing.
● Taiwan is a flash point: Chinese fighter jets have repeatedly entered Taiwan’s air defense zone in April, and Biden sent an unofficial U.S. delegation to Taipei as a show of support.