US President Joe Biden has not yet gone further than the United States, and his plans for foreign visits are the first to be held in the United Kingdom at the summit of seven G7 leaders in mid-June this year. At the same time, the forum has been named D10, or Ten Democracies, as London has also invited leaders from Australia, South Korea and India.
The first foreign leader to be received in person by Biden after taking office will be the Prime Minister of Japan Josihide Suga (date of meeting not yet announced). On 12 March, Biden also took part in the so-called QUAD (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) at a virtual summit of NATO or Asian leaders – the United States, Australia, Japan and India. These and other diplomatic activities in Washington (such as the actual upgrading of official relations with Taiwan to the international level), as well as the plans announced by the new administration, clearly show that China’s Donald Trump’s presidency, then just a tactic.
This is not new, as Beijing was identified as a major long-term threat to US strategic interests during Barack Obama’s presidency, when the reorientation towards the Pacific began with the renaming of the India-Pacific region (Indo-Pacific). The basic strategy is considered to have been tested since the Cold War and envisages the formation of the widest possible alliances, referring to common values, the fight against communism, etc., thus increasing the number of QUAD member states.
At the same time, putting this strategy into practice can be much more problematic than on paper. The global influence and opportunities of the United States are nowhere near as significant as in the post-Cold War period, and the manifestations of ultraliberal democracy, in particular, are viewed with no less suspicion by India than by the growing influence of China. India is also reluctant to abandon its non-alignment policy, which provides it with a number of strategic advantages, and always reacts emotionally to any attempt to impose decisions that are unfavorable to it. Another important factor is India’s friendly relations with Russia, which it categorically does not want to damage.
Meanwhile, it is India’s full accession to the alliance against China that is extremely important to Washington, because without New Delhi, this alliance will lose most of its importance. Accordingly, the future of NATO in Asia also depends to a large extent on the ability of the Baiden administration to offer acceptable compromises to India, as well as to control its ultraliberal activities towards India. Time will tell whether this mission is feasible.
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