In Asia, Biden pushes values he struggles to sell at home

TOKYO » Joe Biden spent his first trip to Asia as president strengthening economic and military commitments. He pushed new rules for the global economy and promoted democracy in launching a new trade pact. And he summoned fellow Indo-Pacific leaders to do more in defense of Ukraine even if it causes their people some economic pain.

The president was, in short, promoting the types of values abroad of greater economic investment, cooperation and democratic principles that he has struggled to sell to voters in the U.S.

“The future of the 21st century economy is going to be largely written in the Indo-Pacific and our region,” Biden said hopefully as he launched a new trade deal called the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework.

It was one of the brighter moments of the five-day trip, which took him to South Korea and then Japan. The trade framework got buy-in from a dozen Pacific leaders including some, like Japan’s Fumio Kishida, who would prefer the United States rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the trade deal that Donald Trump pulled the U.S.

But Biden’s big moment on trade ended up being overshadowed — by Biden himself, when he went offscript on the sensitive matter of Taiwan.

Biden grabbed global headlines by responding “yes” when asked if he was willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if China invaded. The president went on to say a Chinese invasion, while unlikely, would “dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine. And so, it’s a burden that is even stronger. “

He later insisted he hadn’t signaled any change in U.S. policy by opening the door to military intervention.