That’s awkward. While at the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan on Sunday, President Biden blatantly took credit for the diplomatic achievement of his predecessor former President Donald Trump.
“Look, look at the meeting we had here today today and yesterday, the Quad,” Biden said. “Did I, I bet you I would… maybe some of you thought it, but I doubt many, many people in this audience or any other audience would’ve said that, two years had to be elected I’d be able to convince India, Australia, Japan, and the United States to form an organization called the Quad to maintain stability in the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea.”
As pointed out by RNC Research, the Quad re-established in 2017 under President Trump.
CNN reported in 2021 that the Quad meetings were a continuation of diplomatic policy since the Trump administration.
“The new relevance of the Quad summit is a rare mark of continuity between the Trump administration and a Biden White House that reversed much of its predecessor’s foreign policy,” CNN reported. “It is also another sign of the administration’s intent to shift the emphasis of its diplomacy to the Asia-Pacific region, after sacrificing relations with France to send nuclear-powered subs down under.”
“The Quad is not a formal military alliance like NATO,” CNN continued. “But that doesn’t rule out joint exercises in the region. And there is growing speculation that something more formal may emerge, which could mean a debate about what the Quad is actually for.”
“But overall, the meeting is a sign that four key democracies in the Asia-Pacific region are feeling pressure to respond to China’s power,” CNN added.
Despite Chinese aggression in the region, its cover-up of the Covid-19 pandemic, and its spy balloons sent over the U.S., Biden on Sunday insisted that the U.S. was not interested in ‘strategic decoupling’ from China, and hinted that he would soon speak with China’s president Xi Jinping.
“We’re not looking to decouple from China. We’re looking to de-risk and diversify our relationship with China,” Biden said. He added that G7 nations were more unified than ever in terms of “resisting economic coercion together and countering harmful practices that hurt our workers.”
Follow Kyle Becker on Twitter @kylenabecker.