(Tuesday PO) At the G20, Biden joins forces with India and the Middle East, sidelining China

[GuideToACrazyWorld]

NEW DELHI - President Biden announced plans for a new rail and shipping corridor that will connect India, the Middle East and Europe — a long-term push to improve the way goods, energy and information moves across borders, that notably does not involve China.

Biden made the announcement with other world leaders at the G20 — a summit that China's President Xi Jinping chose to skip this year. Afterward, Biden clutched hands with India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to mark the moment.
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Biden is off to India and Vietnam. It's part of his push to counter China's influence
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Biden is off to India and Vietnam. It's part of his push to counter China's influence

It was one of several ways that Biden is seeking to counter the inroads China has made around the world through its Belt and Road Initiative and other development financing. At the G20, the United States and Europe also announced new investments in a rail line that will connect Angola with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.

"This is a game-changing regional investment. And both of these are huge, huge steps forward, but they're far from the only ones. We're continuing to make big investments in infrastructure around the world," Biden said.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi shows a mural of the Konark Sun temple wheel to President Biden at the G20 summit in New Delhi.
Ludovic Marin/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Xi skipped the summit. That's created an opening

The summit has been a top priority for Modi, a leader who Biden has sought to bring closer as a counterbalance to China in the Indo-Pacific region.

Images of Modi's state visit to Washington in June graced a giant video billboard near the airport where Air Force One landed, and G20 posters featuring Modi were plastered around the capital. Modi declared a three-day public holiday for the G20, and the streets around the summit were bare, with the public kept far from the events.

Leaders from China, the world's second-largest economy, and Russia — a long-time partner of India — opted not to attend.
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"I think for our Indian partners, there is substantial disappointment that they're not here — and gratitude that we are," said Kurt Campbell, Biden's top National Security Council adviser on the Indo-Pacific region.
Biden warmly welcomes India's Modi despite questions about human rights issues
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Biden warmly welcomes India's Modi despite questions about human rights issues
Biden avoids a handshake with Saudi crown prince, but fist bump doesn't go over well
Middle East
Biden avoids a handshake with Saudi crown prince, but fist bump doesn't go over well

Journalists have also been tightly restricted from events, drawing attention to India's track record on press freedom, and highlighting a challenge for Biden as he tries to develop a closer relationship with leaders who don't fully embrace human rights.

Campbell said it's something that Biden chooses to raise behind closed doors.

"My experience is that the president is direct, open and does not shy from hard challenges. But what makes it effective is that he begins from a platform of trust and confidence, and I believe that allows his interlocutors to hear sometimes challenging issues more effectively," Campbell told reporters.

President Biden attends at session at the G20 in New Delhi. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has used the pre-colonial Hindi name for his country on his nameplate during the summit.
Evelyn Hockstein/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Biden also worked to beef up the World Bank

Biden has also used the G20 to work with other members of the World Bank to try to make it a more attractive option to Chinese financing, which his national security adviser Jake Sullivan has described as "coercive" and "unsustainable" because it has left some countries in Asia and Africa with debts they cannot repay.

Biden has asked Congress for more than $2 billion for the World Bank, an investment the White House says would leverage more than $25 billion in lending.
Biden announced a $600 billion global infrastructure program to counter China's clout
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Biden announced a $600 billion global infrastructure program to counter China's clout

He has also championed a G7 initiative known as the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, or PGII, which has similar aims.

The goal is not to force developing countries to choose between China and the West, but rather to give them additional attractive options, the White House says.

"We think [it] has real appeal for countries in regions that are underserved by by infrastructure that that have these enormous gaps that need to be filled," Jon Finer, Biden's deputy national security adviser, told reporters.

[Tarmaque]

While I agree that making nice with India is a good thing, I really think his friendly attitude towards Vietnam is going to pay long-term benefits.

[Slip Shod]

Both India and Vietnam have some serious misgivings with China. India along their northern border; there's been some couple times mixing it up with China and Vietnam .. China's been bullying them in the South China Sea over islands in Vietnam coastal waters.
Wasn't that long ago they both had wars with China. Vietnam kick their butt. You got to respect little Vietnam, a very industrious, ingenious people & China put a whipping on India that still hurts to this day.
China better take India seriously ..they have more people, they have the atomic bomb, they have that Brahma hyper missile, & they're quickly building and improving their Navy - subs that can launch atomic weaponed cruise missiles

[Slip Shod]

I may be done, kaput, in picking on poor Uncle Joe. It's becoming quite evident he is not and I repeat NOT going to be the Democratic nominee this coming go around.
The time has come actually past time, his sun is setting. I do have a problem with those who are still attempting to prop him up. I guess it's loyally to the end do or die for them. It's they I have a problem with they are the deniers

[Slip Shod]

this is beyond sad

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'Tranq', zombie drug, Streets of Philadelphia - leaving their bodies to rot, literally

https://nypost.com/2023/09/12/video-sho ... -epidemic/