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President Biden is planning to make “several” stops, including a summit featuring leaders from the “Quad” alliance, during his trip to Asia this spring amid an increasingly contentious relationship between the U.S. and China.
Biden’s trip, which will mark his first visit to the region as president, will include a “summit with three key regional allies in Japan,” according to a report from Reuters. The summit will feature leaders from Australia, India and Japan in Tokyo.
President Joe Biden speaks to members of the media before boarding Air Force One at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport in Minneapolis, Tuesday, Nov. 30, 2021. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
In a statement to the outlet, a senior administration official who was granted anonymity said Biden is seeking to “regularize our engagement through the Quad, which continues to operate at full speed.”
“The President will also make several other stops on that trip,” the official added, refusing to elaborate.
While the exact date for Biden’s trip has yet to be finalized and made public, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters that the trip could take place in May.
Earlier this month, a readout from the White House stated Biden “welcomed” an invitation from Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan to “visit Japan for the next Quad Leaders Meeting in the first half of 2022.”
Kishida makes opening remarks during the trilateral meeting in Tokyo, Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2016.
(Katsumi Kasahara/Pool Photo via AP)
The official said the Biden administration is working to launch a Pacific Islands initiative “to coordinate our actions, drive resources, and raise our ambition in the region, including on climate, maritime, and transportation issues.”
In addition, the official said the administration will “continue prioritizing our Indo-Pacific focus and will have more to come.”
As the U.S. focuses its attention on the growing crisis in Ukraine, where more than 100,000 Russian troops have gathered at the border, China has been increasingly aggressive toward territory that it believes should belong to Beijing.
Earlier this week, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the threat coming from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is “more brazen” and “more damaging than ever before.”
“There’s just no country that presents a broader threat to our ideas, innovation and economic security than China,” Wray said Monday, speaking from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. “The Chinese government steals staggering volumes of information and causes deep, job-destroying damage across a wide range of industries.”
President Biden meets with China’s President Xi Jinping during a virtual summit from the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., Nov. 15, 2021.
(MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
China launched 39 aircraft, mostly fighter jets, near Taiwan Sunday — the largest show of force in months. The launch came the same day the U.S. Navy sailed two aircraft carriers along with a pair of amphibious assault ships alongside allies in the Philippine Sea.
Fox News reached out to the White House but did not receive an immediate response.
Fox News’ Adam Shaw and Caitlin McFall contributed to this article.
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