Joe Biden to Attend G20 Summit; Sends Kamala Harris for ASEAN Summit

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - U.S. President Joe Biden will visit India on September 7-10, 2023, to attend the G20 summit. Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris will head to Jakarta to attend ASEAN Summit on September 4-7, 2023. The information was relayed by the White House on Tuesday, August 22, 2023.

The White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan announced the trips as the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) held a summit in Johannesburg.

BRICS was founded in 2009 to provide a platform for its members to challenge a world order dominated by the US and its Western allies, a notion resisted by Sullivan while he announced Joe Biden's trip to India.

"The president will also reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the G20 as the premier forum of economic cooperation globally, including by committing to the U.S. hosting the G20 in 2026," he told reporters on a conference call.

Previously, Reuters reported that Joe Biden was unlikely to attend ASEAN Summit in Jakarta, citing several diplomats expressing their disappointment over the possibility and questioning the US commitment to the region.

A senior ASEAN diplomat even said that Indonesia has shifted the schedule for two months ahead of schedule in September specifically to allow Biden to attend before heading to India for G20.

Meanwhile, Sullivan argued that U.S. engagement with the Asia-Pacific has been pronounced since 2021.

"I would put our record of achievement and engagement in the Indo-Pacific up against any American president [and] any other country in the world," he said, citing a string of meetings Biden has hosted or attended, including last weekend's trilateral summit with South Korea and Japan at Camp David.

REUTERS

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