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DW \u2014 Joe Biden outlined his foreign policy priorities in a speech at the State Department. Promising that “America is back,” he discussed an array of pressing topics, from Myanmar to Moscow, via US military bases in Germany.<\/p>\nDW \u2014 Joe Biden outlined his foreign policy priorities in a speech at the State Department. Promising that “America is back,” he discussed an array of pressing topics, from Myanmar to Moscow, via US military bases in Germany.<\/p>\n
US\u00a0President Joe Biden on Thursday heralded\u00a0a new era as he\u00a0reassured the watching world that\u00a0“America is back.”<\/p>\n
In his first diplomatic speech since becoming\u00a0president, Biden signaled a no-nonsense approach\u00a0to China and Russia, urged Myanmar’s military leaders<\/a> to bring\u00a0their coup to an end, said\u00a0the US would no longer support Saudi offensives in\u00a0Yemen, and halted the withdrawal of US troops in Germany.<\/p>\n As part of a list of policies in stark contrast to Donald Trump, he also announced a more open policy regarding refugee admissions.<\/p>\n Speaking at the State Department, Biden said: “American leadership must meet this new moment of advancing authoritarianism, including the growing ambitions of China to rival the United States and the determination of Russia to damage and disrupt our democracy.”<\/p>\n “Investing in our diplomacy isn’t something we do just because it’s the right thing to do for the world,” he continued. “We do it in order to live in peace, security and prosperity.”<\/p>\n President Biden has halted Donald Trump’s\u00a0plans to withdraw\u00a0US\u00a0troops from Germany.<\/p>\n Biden said the pullout\u00a0would be stopped\u00a0until Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had conducted an extensive review of the United States’\u00a0global\u00a0military presence.<\/p>\n Last year, then-President Trump announced he was going to withdraw some\u00a09,500 of the roughly 34,500 US\u00a0troops currently stationed in Germany.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump announced the cuts after repeatedly criticizing the NATO ally’s defense budget, which is increasing but remains well short of the alliance’s target of 2% of GDP.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Biden said he would not accept\u00a0Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strong-arm tactics against the West. He also called for\u00a0the unconditional release of Kremlin-critic Alexei Navalny, who was earlier this week given a lengthy jail term<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I made it clear to President Putin, in a manner very different from my predecessor, that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia’s aggressive actions, interfering with our elections, cyberattacks, poisoning its citizens, are over,” he said.<\/p>\n Biden also gave a stern defense of Navalny<\/a> and heavily criticized the Kremlin’s treatment of the opposition leader.<\/p>\n Navalny narrowly escaped death after\u00a0being poisoned\u00a0last year. He, along with the EU<\/a>,\u00a0blames\u00a0Russian security services for the nerve agent attack.<\/p>\n Russia has also used heavy-handed tactics on those protesting on Navalny’s behalf<\/a>.<\/p>\n “The Russian efforts to suppress freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are a matter of deep concern to us and the international community,” Biden said. “Mr Navalny, like all Russian citizens, is entitled to his rights under the Russian constitution. He’s been targeted for exposing corruption. He should be released immediately and without condition.”<\/p>\n Trump had initially sought a warm relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping. However,\u00a0differences over trade, Hong Kong and what the US\u00a0military called\u00a0China’s destabilizing and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, sparked\u00a0a rift between the two nations which has yet to heal.<\/p>\n Beijing, which is expanding its military and making efforts to increase\u00a0its global influence, is\u00a0the United States’\u00a0“most serious competitor,” according to Biden.<\/p>\n “We’ll confront China’s economic abuses, counter its aggressive, coercive action to push back on China’s attack on human rights, intellectual property and global governance,” he said, before offering an olive\u00a0branch: “But we’re ready to work with Beijing when it’s in America’s interest to do so.”<\/p>\n Biden said the United States was working with allies and partners to address the military coup\u00a0in Myanmar<\/a>, that began on Monday.<\/p>\n “There can be no doubt, in a democracy, force should never seek to overrule the will of the people or attempt to erase the outcome of a credible election,” Biden said in reference to last November’s ballot that saw\u00a0Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi<\/a>\u00a0win a huge landslide.<\/p>\n National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the White House was considering\u00a0targeted sanctions on individuals and on entities controlled by the military.<\/p>\n‘Advancing authoritarianism’<\/h2>\n
Keeping troops in Germany for now<\/h2>\n
Russia \u2014 no more ‘rolling over’<\/h2>\n
We must ‘confront China’<\/h2>\n
Myanmar \u2014 Generals must go<\/h2>\n
Seeking halt to conflict in Yemen<\/h2>\n