Joe Biden is right to cut Asia trip short for US debt-ceiling talks: national security adviser

Jake Sullivan describes American president’s G7 attendance as ‘critical’ and notes plan to put visit with Australian prime minister ‘back on the books’

Biden slated to meet Indian leader on Hiroshima sidelines and possibly hold trilateral there with Japan and South Korea, he adds

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US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan (centre) walks outside the White House on Wednesday before starting his trip to Japan. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 5:40am, 18 May 2023Updated: 9:59am, 19 May 2023

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Wednesday defended President Joe Biden’s decision to cut short his tour of Asia to work towards a debt-ceiling agreement with Republicans, emphasising the number of high-level engagements the US leader may have while at the Group of 7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.

Speaking on Air Force One en route to Japan, Sullivan said assertions that Biden’s withdrawal from a Quadrilateral Security Dialogue summit in Sydney and a stopover in Papua New Guinea for a meeting with Pacific island leaders benefited Beijing was “a convenient media narrative” that “does not reflect reality”.

Biden would meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on the sidelines of the G7, he said, noting the possibility of a trilateral with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol.

“The work that we need to do bilaterally with Australia through the Quad and with the Pacific islands is work that can be done at a later date, whereas the final stretch of negotiations over the debt limit or over the budget cannot be done at a later date,” Sullivan said.

“The president spoke with Prime Minister Albanese yesterday and agreed that we would get the visit to Australia back on the books … but also that he would host him in Washington for a state visit,” he added.

“You will see the president convening the leaders of the Pacific islands for a major summit, which will be the second time in 12 months he has done that.”

Biden has been under fire in recent days from various directions, both for leaving Washington amid his stand-off with Republicans demanding spending cuts in exchange for an increase in the country’s debt limit and for cutting short a diplomatic sweep through the Asia-Pacific that was meant to counter Beijing’s influence there.

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