Thank you.
Geoff: It is good to be with
you.
We begin tonight in South Korea,
where president Biden continued
his first presidential trip to
Asia today, as he aims to
bolster ties with one of
America's strongest allies in
the indo-pacific region.
In Seoul today, president Biden
committed to strengthening a
decades-old alliance, meeting
for the first time with his new
south Korean counterpart, Yoon
suk-yeol.
In bilateral talks, the two
presidents agreed to expand
joint military exercises on and
around the Korean peninsula.
At a news conference later in
the day, president Biden pledged
to deter the threat posed by a
nuclear-armed North Korea.
Pres. Biden: Today, president
Yoon and I committed to
strengthening our close
engagement and work together to
take on challenges of regional
security, including addressing
the threat posed by the
democratic people's republic of
Korea.
Geoff: But president Biden also
said he would consider meeting
with North Korea, and
potentially provide vaccines to
the country as it reports yet
another 200,000 cases of what it
calls "Fever."
Pres. Biden: Would I provide
vaccines for North Korea, would
I be prepared to meet?
The answer is yes, we've offered
vaccines, not only to north
Korea, but to China as well.
And we're prepared to do that
immediately.
We've got no response.
Geoff: President Biden is
halfway through a 5-day trip to
South Korea and Japan.
It's an attempt to strengthen
American influence and rebuild
economic ties in a region where
China and North Korea's power
remains significant.
And joining us now to discuss
president Biden's trip to Asia
and more, I'm joined by
anne-marie slaughter.
She's CEO of new America, and
she's also the former director
of policy planning at the state
department during the Obama
administration.
It's great to have you with us.
And president Biden's trip is
aimed at making strides in
countering China's military
advances, countering China's
saber rattling and its economic
influence in the indo-pacific
region.
So what are some of the biggest
challenges he'll face and how
should he address them?
Anne-marie: The biggest
challenge he's facing probably
right now is that whatever we do
in Ukraine, which we have to do
to help Ukraine push the
Russians back, that is pushing
Russia closer to China.
And that is not actually what we
want in terms of the
configuration of power in Asia.
The second big challenge is that
our Asian allies actually don't
want to choose between us and
China.
And it was very striking in the
vote to suspend Russia from the
human rights council that
Singapore and Malaysia and
Indonesia all abstained.
So we have this double situation
where we don't want China and
Russia closer together.
We do want our allies closer to
us.
But actually, they really don't
want to have to choose between
China and us.
Geoff: I want to draw you out on
that, because I've been talking
to white house officials who
make this point that after four
years of trump foreign policy,
which included a trade war with
China, those two splashy summits
with Kim Jong un that failed to
really rein in his nuclear
program, the ditching of the
Iran deal and so on, that that
left a leadership vacuum that
China quickly filled.
And I hear you say that the
region isn't really willing to
have America back in a
leadership position.
Is that the case?
Anne-marie: Not quite.
The region is perfectly happy to
have America leading.
Indeed, they want the united
States engaged in the region.
What they don't want is a united
States that essentially says
it's us versus China.
You really have to line up with
us.
That's changed somewhat with
Australia, which has had its own
issues with China and has moved
closer to us.
But by and large, those
countries want to be able to
pursue their interests.
They want us to balance China.
But they are not going to line
up with us against China.
Geoff: Got it.
I also want to ask you about
Sweden and Finland pursuing
nato membership, which was a
major headline this past week.
President Biden said that both
countries have the full, total,
complete backing of the U.S.
Turkey, as you know, opposes
nato membership for both
countries and could use its vote
to really torpedo their bid.
I've also heard from white house
officials who say that Turkey
really is in this for some
concessions.
Anne-marie: Well, I definitely
think that Turkey understands
leverage and that it has a
moment where it can extract
things.
And Turkey has been on the outs
with nato in terms of being much
closer to Russia than and
particularly around arms deals
that make many nato members
comfortable.
I doubt though that Turkey will
actually block the accession of
Sweden and Finland.
Geoff: What does Sweden and
Finland being nato members mean
for Vladimir Putin?
Anne-marie: Well, it is a pretty
clear sign of a massive
strategic mistake if you believe
Putin, that part of the reason
he went into Ukraine was because
of nato's expansion.
I think we could we could debate
that.
But what he's now gotten is not
only Finland and Sweden joining
nato, but, and I actually think
this is a potential problem for
nato, it's now going to be very
hard for nato to say yes to
Sweden and Finland, but no to
Ukraine.
Because Finland has a thousand
kilometer border with Russia.
Certainly if you look at Finland
and the baltics, the other
nordic states, why would you
bring those countries into nato
but not bring the country that
you are spending $40 billion
helping defend against Russia in
as well?
Geoff: Thanks so much for your
time and for your perspectives.
Anne-marie: Thank you.