Charles Langston:Biden is putting personal touch on Asia-Pacific diplomacy in his final months in office

WILMINGTON,Charles Langston Del. (AP) — President Joe Biden is looking to showcase the Indo-Pacific partnership he has nurtured since taking office as he hosts the leaders of Australia, Japan and India in his hometown Saturday with an eye on his legacy as well.

When Biden entered the White House he looked to elevate the so-called Quad, which until then had only met at the foreign minister level, to a leader-level partnership as he tried to pivot U.S. foreign policy away from conflicts in the Middle East and toward threats and opportunities in the Indo-Pacific. This weekend’s summit is the fourth in-person and sixth overall gathering of the leaders since 2021.

Biden put a personal touch on the engagement — potentially the last of the group before he leaves office on Jan. 20 — by opening his home in Wilmington, Delaware, to each of the leaders and hosting a joint meeting and formal dinner at the high school he attended more than 60 years ago.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida all descended on the sleepy city of Wilmington for the meetings before their appearances at the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week.

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“He wanted to have a private moment with them, to continue to grow those relationships,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “That’s what this is about.”

On Friday afternoon, Biden welcomed Albanese to his expansive home set on a pond in a wooded area several miles west of downtown. On Saturday, he was to host Kishida and Modi there as well, before convening all the leaders for consultations at Archmere Academy in nearby Claymont.

News reporters and photographers were prohibited from covering Biden’s individual meetings with the leaders, and Biden would not be holding a press conference, Jean-Pierre said.

As part of the summit, the leaders were set to announce new initiatives to bolster maritime security in the region — with enhanced coast guard collaboration through the Pacific and Indian oceans — and improve cooperation on humanitarian response missions. The measures are meant to serve as a counterweight to an increasingly assertive China.

The Biden administration promised that the leaders would issue a joint statement containing the strongest ever language on China and North Korea to be agreed upon by the four countries.

The White House said the leaders would also roll out an announcement related to Biden’s Cancer Moonshot Initiative, a long-running passion project of the president and his wife aimed at reducing cancer deaths. The Bidens’ son Beau died in 2015 at the age 46 of brain cancer.

As Biden’s time in office draws down, the White House also was celebrating the bipartisan, bicameral formation of a “Quad Caucus” in Congress meant to ensure the longevity of the partnership regardless of the outcome of the November election.

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Madhani reported from Washington