By Shannon Tiezzi
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping are talking, but are they actually saying anything?
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden reached Beijing on Wednesday, the middle leg of an Asia tour that started in Tokyo and will end in Seoul later this week. According to senior officials from the Obama administration, Biden is in Asia to convey two main messages: That “we are and always will be there for our allies, and that there is a way for two major powers in the U.S. and China to build a different kind of relationship for the 21st century.”
The first point, that the U.S. backs its treaty allies of Japan and South Korea, is being made mostly in the context of China’s new ADIZ. The BBC reported that Biden promised to discuss U.S. concerns over China’s ADIZ “in great specificity” during his meetings. Such promises are especially important to Japan. A senior Obama administration official emphasized that, “In terms of the U.S.-Japan position on the ADIZ, there is fundamentally no daylight between us.” Such a strong show of solidarity may be good for cementing the U.S. commitment to its allies, but it makes it more difficult to achieve the second goal of Biden’s trip: building “a different kind of relationship” between the U.S. and China.
Read the full story at The Diplomat