Trevor Hunnicutt and David Brunnstrom by Michael Martina

WASHINGTON/SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) – Joe Biden will visit Japan and South Korea on his first Asian trip as U.S. president, carrying a clear message to China, advisers and analysts say – don’t try what Russia did in Ukraine anywhere in Asia, and especially not in Taiwan.

After spending months organizing allies against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine (which Moscow refers to as a “special operations”, Biden will depart for his five-day trip on Thursday.

He is greeted by Yoon Suk-yel, the new South Korean president in Seoul, and Fumio Kishida, Japan’s Prime Minister in Tokyo. These leaders share concerns about North Korea as well as China and want to continue their long-standing alliances with Washington.

Evan Medeiros (an Asia specialist under the Barack Obama administration) stated that “At its core, this trip is about building out an alliance network in East Asia.” This was in part in order to counter Chinese actions against Taiwan.

The lifting of sanctions Biden placed on Russia was not an easy task against Beijing. China is South Korea’s biggest trade partner and Japan’s biggest importer of goods, beating Japan in every case. By a large margin, 2 United States.

Biden’s message has been complicated further by the fact his administration hasn’t laid out any plan to stop Beijing from retaking Taiwan. But, U.S. intelligence is already making preparations.

In the same way, some economists think that Beijing’s current no-COVID lockdown policy may lead to global recession.

Despite these shortcomings, Washington is supported more strongly from Seoul than Tokyo in recent times.

Michael Green, an Asia specialist from the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies said “The president is fortunate in whom he’s had as counterparts.” It’s at least twenty years since an American President could visit Japan and Korea. I was amazed that the leaders of both countries are so pro-alliance.

QUAD, ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK

Biden is likely to encourage closer collaboration with allies on numerous technological initiatives.

Analysts believe that Trump will not be visiting the North Korea-demilitarized zone. They also don’t have any new ideas for managing the conflicted relationship. North Korea has lifted the ban on testing intercontinental missiles and could soon resume nuclear weapons tests.

North Korea has also revealed that it’s suffering with COVID-19, and it seems unwilling to listen to China.

Biden will be in Japan to meet with prime ministers of Japan’s other members of “Quad”, Narendra Modi from India, Kishida, and Narendra Kang of Japan.

Although it is not an alliance of military forces like NATO, Washington regards the informal groups as vital to establishing pro-democratic principles. Biden will emphasize cooperation in COVID vaccinations, humanitarian assistance, infrastructure development, climate, space, and cyberscurity.

Biden and Kishida are expected to have a friendly relationship with Modi about what Washington considers India’s indifferent response to Russia’s invasion.

Biden will launch in Japan the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework. This partnership encourages dialogue and cross-border investments related to trade and supply chain resilience.

The deal will not include what the Asian countries most want – increased access to the hundreds of millions American consumers as per the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Donald Trump has abandoned.

Japanese officials and analysts stated that Kishida would press Biden for a re-entry to the agreement.