Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with US President Joe Biden for the last time on Saturday, but already looked to President-elect Donald Trump and his “America First” policies and said Beijing was “ready to work with a new US administration “.

During their talks on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, Xi warned that a stable relationship between China and the US is crucial not only for the two nations but also for the “future and destiny of humanity.”

“Make the wise choice,” he warned. “Continue to look for the right way for two great countries to get along well together.”

Without mentioning Trump's name, Xi appeared to express concern that the new president's protectionist rhetoric on the campaign trail could plunge U.S.-China relations into crisis.

“China stands able to work with a brand new U.S. administration to keep up communications, expand cooperation and manage differences, in order to pursue a gradual transition of China-U.S. relations for the advantage of the 2 peoples,” Xi said through an interpreter .

Xi, firmly entrenched at the top of China's political hierarchy, spoke powerful words in his brief remarks to reporters. Biden, who marks more than 50 years of public service, spoke in broader brushstrokes about where relations between the two countries have headed. He thought not only of the last four years, but also of the decades that the two of them had known each other.

“We didn’t always agree, but our conversations were always frank and always candid. “We never kidded each other,” Biden said. “These discussions prevent misjudgments and ensure that competition between our two countries does not come into conflict.”

Biden was expected to press Xi to dissuade North Korea from further increasing its support for Russia's war against Ukraine. The executives, surrounded by top employees, gathered around a long rectangle of tables in a sprawling conference room at the Defines Hotel and Conference Center in Lima.

China “hosted” the meeting this year after Xi and Biden met a year ago on the sidelines of APEC in Northern California, a meeting hosted by the US. They had a lot to discuss, including China's indirect support for Russia, human rights issues, technology, etc. Taiwan, the self-governing democracy that Beijing claims as its own.

There is much uncertainty about what lies ahead in U.S.-China relations under Trump, who promised during the campaign to impose 60% tariffs on Chinese imports.

Many American companies, including Nike and eyewear dealers Warby Parkerhave diversified their sourcing outside of China. Shoe brand Steve Madden said it plans to reduce imports from China by up to 45% next year.

In a congratulatory message to Trump after his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, Xi urged the US and China to manage their differences and get along in a new era. Xi spoke to Biden in front of the camera on Saturday – but it was unmistakable that his message was aimed at Trump.

“In a significant, prosperous scientific and technological revolution, neither decoupling nor supply chain disruption is an answer,” Xi said. “Only mutual, beneficial cooperation can lead to common development. 'Small yard, high fence' is not what a big country should strive for.”

After being greeted by Xi, Biden ignored shouted questions from reporters about his concerns concerning the latest Trump administration and North Korea. The leaders also didn’t hire reporters after they made transient comments initially of the meeting.

Biden administration officials would advise the Trump team that managing intense competition with Beijing will likely be the largest foreign policy challenge they’ll face, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.

Biden views his relationship with Xi as probably the most consequential on the international stage and has gone to great lengths to cultivate it. The two first met while traveling within the United States and China when each were vice presidents. Both said the interactions left an enduring impression.

“For over a decade, you and I have spent many hours together, both here and in China and in between,” Biden said. “We have been working on these issues for a long time.”

But there have been difficult moments during the last 4 years.

The FBI this week revealed latest details of a federal investigation into the Chinese government's efforts to hack into U.S. telecommunications networks. Initial findings have revealed a “wide-ranging and significant” cyber espionage campaign geared toward stealing information from Americans working in government and politics.

U.S. intelligence officials also imagine China has ramped up sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technologies that Moscow uses to make missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weapons for the war against Ukraine .

And tensions rose last yr after Biden ordered the downing of a Chinese spy balloon that was transiting the United States.

Biden expects Xi to extend Chinese engagement to forestall further escalation of an already dangerous situation with North Korea.

Biden, South Korean President Yoon Seok Yul and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday condemned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's decision to send 1000’s of soldiers to assist Moscow repel Ukrainian forces which have seized territory within the Russian border region of Kursk .

Biden called it a “dangerous and destabilizing collaboration.”

White House officials have expressed frustration that Beijing, which handles most of North Korea's trade, just isn’t doing more to contain Pyongyang.

According to US and South Korean intelligence officials, the North Koreans have also supplied Russia with artillery and other ammunition. And the United States, Japan and South Korea have expressed concern about Pyongyang's increased ballistic missile testing.

Kim ordered test exercises ahead of this month's U.S. election and claims to have made progress in efforts to construct attack capability on the U.S. mainland.

Xi and Biden began their day on the leaders' retreat on the APEC summit and attended a photograph during which all of them wore scarves manufactured from vicuña wool, a symbolic animal of Peru. It is customary for the leaders of those gatherings to be presented with a present – often traditional clothing of the host country – which they will wear for the photo.

The recent British Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has only a couple of days to settle into office before he faces his first test on the world stage.

After winning a landslide victory for his party on July 4, 2024, Starmer will travel to Washington, DC, to Decisive NATO summit from 9 July. A couple of days later, he’ll receive over 50 European heads of state and government for Meeting of the European Political Community.

Faced with many global challenges, Starmer has the chance to indicate that Britain is back on the world stage. Especially with many Western heads of state and government are facing considerable headwinds in their very own country – think Emmanuel Macron in France or Olaf Scholz in Germany – Starmer has the prospect to revive Britain because the US’s most significant partner in Europe.

The partnership with the USA is a Priority for the brand new British governmentThe so-called “special relationship” has been strained lately, especially because of Brexit – the British decision to depart the European Union – which reduced British influence in Europe and jeopardised the peace agreement in Northern Ireland. The latter point was particularly galling for President Joe Bidenwho’s of Irish descent.

But translating Britain's desire for greater engagement into influence over US policy might be an actual challenge for Starmer. To succeed, he could have to navigate plenty of thorny issues, including US electoral politics, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the perceived threat from China and a brand new start with the EU. In all of those cases, overcoming existing differences between London and Washington won’t be easy.

Waiting for the subsequent elections

As Starmer begins to construct relationships with Washington, it’s an inescapable fact for him that he doesn’t know who he might be coping with for many of his time in office.

For the primary time since 1992The British general elections took place just a couple of months before the presidential elections on the opposite side of the Atlantic.

This could lead on to significant investment in transatlantic relations coming to a halt until American voters determine in November.

On the surface, Starmer's left-leaning Labour Party might welcome a Democratic victory in November. Aside from not having to cope with a change of president, the 2 parties are philosophically closer, and Starmer has expressed his admiration for the presumptive Democratic candidate President Joe Biden.

David Lammy, the British government’s prospective foreign minister, has also has openly denigrated Republican Donald Trump prior to nowand called him a “misogynistic, neo-Nazi-sympathizing sociopath” and a “serious threat to the international order.”

But the vitality of the connection between prime minister and president often trusted more on personalities than on mere ideological affinityWhile Labour's Tony Blair and Conservative George W. Bush worked well together, this was hardly the case with Donald Trump and Theresa May – each of whom led the established right-wing parties of their countries.

It stays to be seen how Starmer will fare among the many presumptive US presidential candidates. But he’ll finally get the prospect to check Biden on the NATO summit after no meeting with the President took place while he was leader of the British opposition. Lammy, for his part, was steadily Maintaining relations with the MAGA sphere within the event of a Trump victory.

Ukraine and defence

Beyond the personalities, the fate of the “special relationship” may even rely on whether each side manage to succeed in an agreement on some sensitive issues.

Since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, the UK has been on the forefront of supporting Ukraine. Provision of contemporary weapons and training of Ukrainian pilotsThe British government also signed a Security pact with Kyiv in JanuaryStarmer shouldn’t be expected to deviate from this line.

But this commitment is unlikely to influence the United States on some crucial issues within the war. Although Britain is actively pushing for Ukraine to hitch NATO, the Biden administration shouldn’t be prepared to present in on this issue presentlyAnd if Trump wins in November, defense spending could once more turn out to be a bone of contention. NATO allies are pushing for defense spending to be raised to 2.5% of gross domestic product – but Labour would need to balance this goal with competing domestic priorities These include improving the highly valued National Health Service and tackling the associated fee of living crisis.

Gaza tightrope walk

A maybe even more sensitive issue that the brand new prime minister must negotiate together with his counterpart within the White House is the Gaza query.

After taking office as party leader in 2020, Starmer worked tirelessly to proceed the legacy of his predecessor, extreme left and really pro-Palestinian This also included making every effort to reverse the general public perception of the Labour Party as anti-Semitic.

But Starmer's more pro-Israel stance following the October 7 attacks has alienated a few of Labour's traditional voters.

And the about-face doesn’t mean that Labour's position on Gaza shouldn’t be sometimes at odds with that of the White House. In particular, neither Starmer nor Lammy have condemned the International Criminal Court's hope of obtaining an arrest warrant for the leaders of Israel and Hamas. Biden, for his part, called this move by the ICC “outrageous.”

Pressure on China

China might be one other very delicate test of the brand new British government's friendship with Washington. Lammy has promised that Labour will initiate a comprehensive review of the country's policies with China to find out “where we need to compete, where we can cooperate and where we need to challenge.”

Such a review could help overcome the inner divisions throughout the Labour Party between supporters of higher relations with Beijing and those that consider it a security threat.

But the test could turn out to be much more vital given the likely pressure Britain will face from Washington, where members of each parties strongly support geopolitical competition with Beijing. Britain and the US there are already differences of opinion in the case of China, resembling the over-acceptance of Chinese production of electrical vehicles or the query of whether Beijing committed genocide in Xinjiang.

Finally, as a foreign policy analyst Sophia Gaston expressed it“The big question for Labour is whether it believes strategic competition is purely a US-China issue, or whether Britain can play a role in it.”

Reorientation of EU relations

Ultimately, the strength of the special relationship may even rely on how well Labour manages to its planned restart with the EU.

Building closer ties with European partners could strengthen Britain’s influence and function a hedging strategy within the event that Trump wins the election and leads the US in a more isolationist direction.

But Labour shouldn’t robotically assume that it can find willing partners in Europe. The scars of the Brexit negotiations, the rise of the intense right in Europe and the most important crises in Ukraine and the Middle East could limit the European bandwidth to make great efforts to construct relations with the brand new Labour government.

Starmer and his government could have a chance to revive the special relationship with the US – however the road to doing so is prone to be anything but smooth. American electoral politics and misalignment on plenty of thorny challenges could easily throw the brand new prime minister astray. In addition, the delicate state of the British economy severely restrict the brand new government’s scope for foreign policy motionIt also implies that Starmer is prone to focus, not less than initially, on problems at home moderately than abroad.

April 2024 proved to be a busy month in Japanese-American diplomacy.

The month saw a state visit by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to the USA That included a gathering on the White House with President Joe Biden on April 10. The next day, each men were joined by Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for the meeting First-ever trilateral summit between the US, Japan and the Philippines.

Then on April 23, Taro Aso, former prime minister and leading figure in Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said: met with Donald Trump in New York.

As US-East Asian foreign relations expertI imagine the flurry of diplomatic activity points to 2 things: Japan's strong desire to extend engagement with Washington as a part of an Indo-Pacific strategy, and the very real concern in Tokyo that the U.S. will not be as engaged – regardless who will lead the country after this 12 months's election.

Allies and co-stewards

The Japanese government under Kishida – who was Elected Prime Minister in 2021 – has made it clear that they’re committed to an alliance with the USA

Kishida hopes to say Japan's role as greater than just that of the United States strongest ally in East Asia, but additionally as co-administrator of the “Liberal international order” – these are the worldwide rules and agreements established by leading economies after World War II.

Kishida's intentions became clear within the Japanese 12 months 2022 National Security Strategy, which detailed Japan's short- and medium-term strategic goals. While it included a commitment to unprecedented defense spending and the event of recent defense capabilities, it did so within the context of emphasizing the country's relationship with the U.S. as “the cornerstone of Japan's national security policy.”

Japan's strategy also calls for bilateral relations with the United States to transcend traditional security concerns and extend to providing economic security through efforts to strengthen the resilience of worldwide supply chains and strengthen economic engagement between allies.

Invest in alliances

Japan's desire to strengthen its partnership with the United States was largely reciprocated by Washington.

Closer ties are in keeping with those of the Biden administration plan to speculate in alliances as a core element of its foreign policy. The Biden White House was particularly in focus stronger security cooperation across the Indo-Pacific region.

To that end, Biden and Kishida unveiled a joint U.S.-Japan command center and a brand new Japan-U.S.-Australia air missile defense network during their April meeting. Likewise those trilateral meeting with the Philippines The US Coast Guard's improved training for its Asian partners in addition to joint patrols within the South China Sea were presented there.

While the implicit, if not explicit, goal of such collaborative efforts is usually that perceived threat from China The strategy has far-reaching geopolitical implications for regional stability.

By forging alliances between like-minded countries, the United States and Japan are promoting a worldwide system based on the prevailing liberal international order but emphasizing the various visions of democracies and non-democracies. In other words, they seek to create security through distinction – or an “us versus them” strategy – reasonably than through universalism.

The USA is pursuing this goal actively advocated for higher relations between Japan and South Korea — two Democratic U.S. allies deeply divided over reconcile after Japan's colonization of the Korean peninsula within the early twentieth century.

What a Trump victory could mean for Tokyo

But while the U.S. and Japan are in lockstep on many issues affecting the Indo-Pacific region, recent diplomatic spats in Washington — in addition to preparations for the visits — also raise areas of difference that concern Japan.

While Kishida has emphasized the U.S.-Japan economic relationship as a win-win scenario, the Biden administration has focused more on security measures.

In fact, Washington will not be entirely on the identical page as its Asian partners on trade and economic issues.

Biden did it, for instance speak out against the planned purchase of US Steel by the Japanese company Nippon Steel. Biden's reticence resonates a prevailing belief in economic nationalism in Washington, steeped in domestic politics.

But Tokyo's concerns transcend the present U.S. government's reluctance toward Japanese investment.

A possible second Trump presidency could, it’s feared in Tokyoupend the Biden administration's work to revitalize the alliance system within the Indo-Pacific.

It could also cause the US to fall further into economic nationalism. Under Trump, the USA saw Tariffs as a very important foreign policy instrument, while alliances are portrayed as transactional. For example, Trump demanded that Japan quadruple the annual payments that US troops needs to be stationed there.

Even under the Trump administration and to the chagrin of Japan within the USA left the Trans-Pacific Partnership multilateral trade agreementwhich continued without the US in the shape of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Japan on PR offensive

Japan is starting to hedge against a Biden defeat in November, laying the groundwork for what many in Tokyo hope will likely be a positive relationship with Trump should he grow to be president again.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated in 2022, formed such a relationship with Trump. And it was notable that it was Abe's former deputy prime minister, Aso, who did this met with Trump in New York to now re-establish a private connection – although Kishida's government described Aso's visit as that of a single lawmaker acting in his own capability.

Still, Kishida knows that it will not be only a Trump presidency that would threaten Japan's interests and goals for the Pacific region. American political elites generally are Tendency more towards isolationism. Meanwhile, the American public increasingly divided and unsure in regards to the advantages of trade and the role the United States should play globally.

During his US visit, Kishida desired to speak not only with the Biden administration, but additionally with Congress – each Democrats and Republicans – in addition to the US economy and the American public.

It was not only a leadership summit but additionally a PR tour.

During his speech to Congress – only the second by a Japanese Prime Minister – Kishida emphasized the necessity for the US to be a trusted ally and to say, “The world needs the United States” and “the people of Japan are at your side to ensure the survival of freedom.”

And during a subsequent visit to North Carolina, where he toured a Toyota electric vehicle battery factory and a HondaJet subsidiary, he reaffirmed the ties between the 2 countries – while emphasizing the positive economic contribution Japan is making to the United States.

Looking for a stable relationship

Japan is embracing its identity as an actively contributing member of the liberal international order. With the U.S. withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and uncertainty over Washington's global role in the course of the Trump administration, Japan emerged as a number one proponent of preserving and maintaining that order.

But Japan also hopes that the USA will proceed to play a central role.

The high-profile meetings between Japan's political elite and each Biden and Trump show that Tokyo is trying to the US as a reliable partner – within the interests of each regional security and economic prosperity. But that is something that’s making US domestic politics increasingly difficult.