Biden boosts U.S. influence on G20, Vietnam

United States President Joe Biden arrives in India Friday for the Group of 20 summit and proceeds to Vietnam Sunday, both aimed at boosting US influence amid division caused by the war in Ukraine and territorial dispute in the South China Sea.

Biden is hoping to seize on the absence of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit.

The US president said on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was showing his country's commitment to the G20 as a forum that can deliver.

White House officials said Biden would in particular stress a plan to increase World Bank and International Monetary Fund lending power for emerging nations by some $200 billion as a better alternative to Beijing's "coercive" Belt and Road Initiative.

But the absence of Xi and Putin underscores the divisions in the G20 and could hamper Biden's bid to keep the bloc as the leading forum of global economic cooperation.

In Hanoi, Biden and ruling Vietnamese Communist party chief Nguyen Phu Trong are expected to sign a major upgrade in ties between the two countries, who have overcome the painful legacy of the Vietnam War to grow close.

They are expected to sign off on a "comprehensive strategic partnership," Hanoi's highest level of diplomatic ties.

Currently, Vietnam only has ties at the same level with Russia, India, South Korea and China.

Biden is betting that Vietnam won't mind being closer to Washington at a time when China's sweeping maritime claims in the South China Sea have fueled tensions with its Southeast Asian neighbors.

However, Vietnam won't be keen to play a role in balancing Washington and Beijing, Nguyen Quoc Cuong, the Vietnamese ambassador to US from 2011 to 2014, said.

WITH AFP