Biden transforms US governance crisis into dangerously growing concern for all: China Daily editorial

In a news conference at the White House on Wednesday, US President Joe Biden was asked whether the canceling of his trip to Australia to attend the Quad's summit in Sydney scheduled for May 24, represented "almost a win for China". "No. No," he replied. 

Since the other Quad members will all be attending the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, he said they will get a chance to talk separately at the meeting. "We're still meeting (in Hiroshima). We still have four (sic) good allies."

That reply exposes the lie that the Quad, which groups Japan, India and Australia with the United States, is working for an "open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific", as well as the hollow ring of the host's claim that the Sydney gathering would "showcase the Quad's enduring contribution to the region and the tangible benefits we are delivering for Indo-Pacific partners".

The summit was immediately called off after Biden canceled his trip in order to negotiate with the Republicans on a new debt ceiling to avoid a debt default of the US government. 

That Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida quickly followed suit shows the core role the US plays in the group, as well as the lack of reason for the group's existence, since it is simply a tool of the US' "Indo-Pacific" contain-China strategy. 

Although Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is still paying a visit to Australia after attending the gathering in Japan, that is largely a reciprocal gesture for Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's visit to India in March. 

Although China is expected to dominate the discussions in Hiroshima — G7, Quad and others — under the orchestration of the US, how far Biden can hijack them with Washington's agenda remains to be seen. 

It is a pity that the leader of the world's largest economy and sole superpower still fails to realize that the US' challenges are of its own making and they cannot be resolved — indeed they will only be further aggravated and complicated — by turning a long-term partner into a rival. Not to mention the uncertainties and risks that the US will subject itself to, along with the rest of the world, by doing so.

This is what it is doing, intentionally or not. The Biden administration has already made it clear that the G7 gathering is to be used as a platform to form a united front against what the US alleges is China's "economic coercion". The fact that this united front is being formed to help the US bolster its economic coercion against China shows the way in which the US tries to pin its own unruly behavior on others.

In fact, the Biden administration's state, defense and commerce secretaries have already made clear in their testimonies at a congressional budget hearing on Tuesday what will be the main points of Biden's agenda in Hiroshima, which will be to call on the US' allies to synergize their actions to support the US' military oppression against, diplomatic coercion of and economic decoupling with China.