IPEF: President Biden unveils his economic plan for countering China in Asia

On May 23, 2022

The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework is Biden’s attempt at engaging a region coming increasingly under the influence of China. He unveiled it as he began the second leg of his debut tour of Asia. The announcement was one of the centerpieces of Biden’s visit to the continent, which began last week in South Korea and is continuing this week in Japan.

“We’re here today for one simple purpose: the future of the 21st Century economy is going to be largely written in the Indo-Pacific. Our region,” Biden said as he launched the plan.

“This framework should drive a race to the top,” he said.

Biden is walking a delicate balance in revealing the economic framework. While Asian nations have been clamoring for a way to partner with the United States to reduce dependance on China, the President is also facing protectionist sentiments at home, where economic pain in the form of higher prices has proved the central issue in November’s midterm elections.

Biden said Monday he did not believe a recession was inevitable, but acknowledged the pain was real.

“It’s bad,” he said, suggesting later that improvement could be a long time coming.

“This is going to be a haul. This is going to take some time,” he said, arguing things could have been much worse had he not taken steps like cultivating foreign investments in the US economy.

Before unveiling the plan, Biden called on Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and sat for bilateral talks with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, discussing issues related to China, Taiwan and North Korea.

“The United States remains fully committed to Japanese, Japan’s defense, and we will face the challenges of today and the future together,” Biden said in his meeting with Kishida, their first formal face-to-face.

“The purpose of the visit is to increase our cooperation with other nations of the region and deliver concrete benefits to the people of the Indo-Pacfic region,” Biden said, going on to thank Kishida for joining a US-led effort to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Biden was welcomed to the Akasaka Palace with a stately ceremony that included the playing of national anthems and an inspection of ceremonial honor guards. Biden watched and placed his hand on his heart for the playing of the Star Spangled Banner.

Japan turns away from post-WWII pacifism as China threat grows

China has loomed over each of Biden’s stops, a mostly unspoken but ever-present factor in his push to reorient American foreign policy to focus more on Asia. It became explicit on Monday when Biden, speaking on China’s doorstep in Tokyo, said the US would be willing to intervene militarily should China invade Taiwan. While acknowledging the US still agrees with the “One China” policy, Biden said that the idea of Taiwan being taken by force “is (just not) appropriate.” A White House official said later the US position on the “One China” policy had not changed.

When he meets Tuesday with leaders of a revitalized “Quad” grouping — the US, Japan, India and Australia — it will be with the tacit intention of countering Beijing’s attempts to expand its influence among its neighbors.

The economic framework comes with a similar goal. Ever since then-President Donald Trump withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership (TTP) — the massive…

IPEF: President Biden unveils his economic plan for countering China in Asia

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