Biden embarks on maiden visit to S Korea, Japan as US President; bolstering ties on focus

US President Joe Biden has embarked on his first visit to the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan as the US president. Taking to Twitter, Biden stated that he is looking forward to strengthening "vital security alliances" in South Asia amid the escalating threats from China in the Indo-Pacific region and nuclear threats from North Korea. He went on to add, that the trip is also for deepening economic partnerships and "working with fellow democracies" and help shape the "rule of the road" for the 21st century.

Joe Biden's Asia visit

The US President will first stop at Seoul, the capital of South Korea where he will meet the newly appointed South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol. He will engage with technology and manufacturing leaders in the country "who are mobilising billions of dollars in investment in the US to create thousands of good-paying jobs", US National Security Advisor (NSA) Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday during a presser at the White House. Biden will also be the guest of honour as American and Korean troops display "collective security" drills.

The next stop will be Tokyo where he will meet Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and launch the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF). His visit is hooked on the vision of bolstering ties with the South East Asian nations to deter Chinese increasingly aggressive propaganda in the South East China Sea, thus posing threat to the free and open Indo-Pacific trade route. Also, Biden will seek to repair frayed ties between Japan and South Korea in order to bolster defence against North Korea's nefarious tactics.

“The message we’re trying to send on this trip is a message of an affirmative vision of what the world can look like if the democracies and open societies of the world stand together to shape the rules of the road to define the security architecture of the region to reinforce strong, powerful historic alliances. We think that message will be heard everywhere, [and] we think it will be heard in Beijing," Sullivan said on Wednesday.

'Wrong words and wrong steps': China warns the US

Getting the whiff of Washington's plans for the South Asian tour, China has laid out a flurry of warnings against creating "bloc-antagonism." Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Monday asked his South Korean counterpart Park Jin to "prevent the risk of Cold War, and oppose confrontation between two camps." Following NSA Sullivan's briefing about Biden's trip, Yi stressed that "the Japanese side will soon host a summit of the ‘Quadrilateral Mechanism’ between the US, Japan, India, and Australia. What is of concern and vigilance is that the so-called Japan-U.S. joint effort to confront China has been rampant before the US leader has made the trip," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. China's top diplomat also warned Sullivan that "the US has taken a series of wrong words and actions to interfere in China's internal affairs.

(Image: AP)