Washington, May 17 (EFE).- The United States reaffirmed this Wednesday its “commitment” to the Indo-Pacific, a region with which it is strengthening relations to rival China, despite the fact that President Joe Biden had to cancel his trip to Papua New Guinea and Australia.
Biden left this Wednesday for Hiroshima (Japan) to participate in the G7 summit, but will return to Washington ahead of schedule to negotiate with the Republicans an agreement to raise the debt ceiling that prevents the country from entering suspension of debt for the first time. Payments.
“Our commitment to the Pacific islands and the Indo-Pacific region endures and that is why we have had rapprochements with that part of the world,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said at a press conference.
The official gave as an example that the United States opened a new embassy in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, last year, but did not specify whether Secretary of State Antony Blinken plans to visit the country instead of the president.
Biden called the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese, yesterday to inform him that he has postponed the trip he had planned to participate in the Quad summit (USA, Australia, India and Japan), and reminded him that he is invited to Washington.
The Administration, added the spokesman, also contacted the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, James Marape, to inform him of the suspension of the trip, a visit that the White House itself had described as “historic” for being the first by a US president. to a Pacific island country.
The authorities of that nation had declared next Monday a national holiday to receive Biden with honors.
Biden was sure this Wednesday that there will be an agreement between Democrats and Republicans on the debt limit that will prevent the suspension of payments in the country, because all the leaders involved “understand the consequences” of not reaching that consensus.
The current limit, of 31.4 trillion dollars, was reached last January. The government is currently drawing on money in its reserves to pay off debts it has incurred, but the Treasury Department estimates that those reserves will be depleted on June 1.
