US not seeking 'new Cold War', says Biden at UNGA
United Nations/New Delhi: Amid growing tensions with China, US President Joe Biden on Tuesday said the country is not seeking a 'new Cold War' and is ready to work with any nation that pursues peaceful resolutions.
Without mentioning China directly, Biden acknowledged increasing concerns about rising tensions between the two nations in his first address before the UN General Assembly.
"We are not seeking a new Cold War or a world divided into rigid blocs. The US is ready to work with any nation that pursues peaceful resolutions....because we have all suffered the consequences of our failures," Joe Biden said.
The President noted his decision to end America's longest war last month, in Afghanistan, and set the table for his administration to shift US attention to intensive diplomacy with no shortage of crises facing the globe. He said he is driven by a belief that "to deliver for our own people, we must also engage deeply with the rest of the world."
"We've ended 20 years of conflict in Afghanistan," Biden said. "And as we close this period of relentless war, we're opening a new era of relentless diplomacy of using the power of our development aid to invest in new ways of lifting people up around the world," he added.
"Today we are better equipped and more resilient....countering propaganda. We know the bitter sting of terrorism. Last month, we lost 13 American heroes and many Afghan civilians in the heinous terrorist attack at Kabul airport. Those who commit acts of terrorism against us will find a determined enemy in the United States," he added.
Speaking further about the current situation in Afghanistan, the US President said that the UNSC has adopted a resolution outlining how to support the people of Afghanistan and laid out the expectations of the Taliban.
Biden mapped out a new era of vigorous competition despite China's ascendance during his first United Nations address on Tuesday, promising military restraint and a robust fight against climate change. The United States will help resolve crises from Iran to the Korean Peninsula to Ethiopia, Biden told the annual UN General Assembly gathering.
The world faces a "decisive decade", Biden said, one in which leaders must work together to combat a raging pandemic, global climate change and cyber threats.
He said the United States will compete vigorously, both economically and to push democratic systems and rule of law.
Meanwhile, the developments in Afghanistan, ways to stem radicalism, extremism and cross-border terrorism and further expansion of India-US global partnership will figure prominently in bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the US President in Washington on September 24, Foreign Secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla said on Tuesday.
In their first in-person talks after Biden became the US President, the two leaders are expected to focus on bolstering bilateral trade and investment ties, strengthening defence and security collaboration and boosting the strategic clean energy partnership, Shringla said sharing details of Modi's "official working visit" to the US from September 22-25.
Besides holding bilateral talks with President Biden, Modi will attend a summit of the Quad leaders on September 24 in Washington and address the 76th session of the UN General Assembly in New York the next day. He will be back on September 26.
