Neil Thomas, Lowy Institute: China Overtakes America in Presidential Diplomacy
Memo for the White House: You should get out more.
Joe Biden is about to fly to the United Kingdom on his first foreign visit as U.S. President. Biden will attend the G7 summit in Cornwall from 11–13 June, head to Belgium for summits with NATO and the European Union on 14–15 June, then meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Switzerland the following day. His trip will be the first time time Air Force One has carried the president abroad since Donald Trump went to London in December 2019, before Covid-19 closed international borders and made diplomacy virtual.
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WNU Editor: It is true that Chinese President Xi travels a lot. He understands better than most leaders in the world that this type of diplomacy helps promote China's foreign policy and agenda.
Kudos to former President Trump doing the traveling that he did during his 4 year term. If it was not for the pandemic, he would have traveled just as much as Clinton, Bush, and Obama did during their eight year terms.
Unfortunately. I do not see President Biden doing much traveling.
Since 2019 his traveling was always limited, and I do not see that changing much in the future. In fact this 8 day trip is the most that he has done in two to three years.
For the Chinese. To no one;s surprise. This is a vacuum that they are happy to step in.
