The US president will propose to the Chinese leader to rein in North Korea when they meet at the G20 summit on Monday, US security adviser Jack Sullivan said Saturday.
Joe Biden will defend alongside Xi Jinping that it is in Beijing’s interest “to play a constructive role in containing the worst trends in North Korea,” Sullivan said, quoted by the French agency AFP.
Biden arrived in Phnom Penh this Saturday to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit and will meet Xi on Monday on the Indonesian island of Bali, on the sidelines of the group’s 20 most developed economies summit. G20).
The meeting comes after North Korea conducted a record-breaking series of missile launches, with Western allies fearing it is preparing for another nuclear test, the seventh in its history.
Sullivan, speaking to journalists who accompanied Biden aboard the presidential plane, warned that if North Korea maintains current policies, it will “lead to a stronger US military and security presence in the region” of East Asia.
The adviser noted that Biden will not make a request to Xi, but will give his opinion.
That view is that North Korea poses a threat not only to the United States, South Korea and Japan, “but also to peace and stability throughout the region,” he said.
Leaders of the world’s two largest economies have spoken by phone countless times since Biden became president in January 2021.
But the Covid-19 pandemic and Xi’s aversion to foreign travel prevented the two leaders from meeting in person.
In addition to North Korea, other topics can also be discussed, such as trade, human rights in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, Taiwan or the war in Ukraine.
Biden’s visit to Cambodia is the second visit by a US president to the Asian country and continues his administration’s efforts in relations with the South Pacific, the US agency AP said.
ASEAN will award the United States “comprehensive strategic partnership” status this year, putting Washington on a par with China, which received the award in 2021.
The situation in Myanmar (formerly Burma), where the army overthrew the government in February 2021, will be one of the topics he will raise at his meetings in Phnom Penh, according to Jack Sullivan.
Biden will meet with Cambodia’s prime minister and summit host, Hun Sen, and will later attend the annual US-ASEAN summit.
Biden will attend ASEAN summit meetings on Sunday, including a meeting with the leaders of South Korea and Japan, before heading to the G-20 summit in Bali.
Founded in 1967, ASEAN currently includes Brunei, Cambodia, Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Source: DN
