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World leaders welcome Joe Biden, seek improved relations with US

United States President-elect Joe Biden Photo: NBCNews

*Leaders say Trump Presidency has upset longstanding foreign policy norms as countries look for greater collaboration on climate change

*Biden names a group of leading scientists and experts to help take the Biden-Harris COVID plan and convert it into an action blueprint Monday, November 9

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Sequel to his declaration as the President-elect of the United States (US), world leaders have welcomed Mr. Joe Biden’s election win with several of the leaders hoping the Democratic President-elect will spur a reset in diplomatic ties, and usher in a renewed focus on global issues, including climate change, and a more collaborative response to the devastating Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

ConsumerConnect reports in Donald Trump’s four years in the saddle as the US President, he overturned decades of accepted American foreign policy.

Trump is reported to have criticised longstanding allies in Europe, withdrawn from international agreements and organisations, and set aside human rights concerns to cultivate ties with more authoritarian leaders in Saudi Arabia, Hungary and Turkey.

However, Biden has promised a more multilateral approach during his tenure as President.

He is also expected to continue a tougher line on trade and will need to balance public sentiment at home, which is for America to stop shouldering so much of the burden for global defence.

Chancellor Angela Merkel in a statement posted on Twitter by her spokesperson, said she looked forward to working with Biden.

Merkel said: “Our transatlantic friendship is indispensable if we are to face the greatest challenges of our time,” she said in a statement posted on Twitter by her spokesman.

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas in a statement called for a fresh start for transatlantic ties, in what he described as a “New Deal”.

Maas stated: “Joe Biden made clear during the campaign that he sees the global strength of the US in team play and not going it alone. We also want the west to play as a team again.

“Only that way can we make our common values felt in the world, only then can we have the necessary clout.”

China is likely to face a stronger stance from the US under Biden on human rights issues and for its crackdown on Hong Kong. But state media focused mostly on Trump, rather than Biden.

Trump has made repeated references to voter fraud, without providing significant evidence to back up his evidence-lacking electoral fraud claims, and has said he plans to fight on via the courts.

Incidentally, a considerable number of states in the US have dismissed Trump’s legal suits as lacking in merit thus far.

Hu Xijin, Editor-in-Chief of the state-run Global Times in a separate post on Weibo, said China “needs to get in touch with Biden’s team to explore the possibility of getting rid of extreme turbulence in the China-US relationship.”

President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan said she looked forward to further “friendship” with the US.

Ing-wen said in tweet that “the values on which we have built our relationship could not be stronger.”

Beijing considers the democratically-run island part of its territory.

While Tsai’s party has more in common with Biden on environmental and social issues, he has for decades advocated for “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan, seeking to minimise the risk of a direct conflict with China.

However, there’s been no official reaction so far from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin’s Spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment, according to Bloomberg. Four years ago, Putin sent Trump his congratulations within hours of US television networks calling the result.

Nonetheless, opposition leader Alexey Navalny, who is in Germany recovering from a near-fatal poisoning attack, did weigh in by stating: “Congratulations to @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris on the victory and to the Americans on defining the new leadership in a free and fair election.

“This is a privilege which is not available to all countries. Looking forward to the new level of cooperation between Russia and the US.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who had an at-times prickly relationship with Trump, including on trade, spoke of the “extraordinary relationship” between the countries in his statement congratulating Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris.

Trudeau said: “We will further build on this foundation as we continue to keep our people safe and healthy from the impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic, and work to advance peace and inclusion, economic prosperity, and climate action around the world.”

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson cited shared priorities, including climate change, trade and security in sending his congratulations to Biden.

Johnson equally acknowledged the election of Harris as the first woman, the first Black person and the first Indian-American as Vice-President.

In Iran and the Middle East, President Hassan Rouhani called on Biden to make amends with the Islamic Republic after the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” policy.

According to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency, Rouhani said: “An opportunity for the future government of the US has arisen for it to compensate for its past mistakes and to return to respecting global norms and the path of commitment to its international obligations.”

Regardless of the outcome, one thing is absolutely clear, the definite political, civil, and moral decline of the US regime, said the Iranian administration at Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir)

The Trump administration withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 Iran nuclear accord and imposed sweeping sanctions to try to force Tehran to accept a tougher deal that also limits its missile programme and ambitions in the Middle East. Biden has indicated he may seek to rejoin the pact for mutual benefits.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who arguably was one of the biggest beneficiaries of the Trump administration’s foreign policy, took longer than some of his Middle Eastern counterparts in congratulating Biden.

Netanyahu’s first tweeted he was looking forward to working with Biden and Harris, before thanking Trump in a separate post for his friendship over the years.

Trump repeatedly broke with US precedent to boost Netanyahu’s nationalist agenda, recognising Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights and moving the American embassy to Jerusalem.

He tweeted: “Thank you @realDonaldTrump for the friendship you have shown the state of Israel and me personally, for recognising Jerusalem and the Golan, for standing up to Iran, for the historic peace accords and for bringing the American-Israeli alliance to unprecedented heights” at Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu).

November 8, 2020

The President of Iraq, Emir of Qatar and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed all sent well wishes to newly elected Biden.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, the first foreign leader to call and congratulate Trump in 2016, said he was “looking forward to working and cooperating with the new president-elect.”

Under a Biden White House, Egypt will likely face more of the traditional American scolding over human rights.

President Emmanuel Macron of France also called on the incoming American administration to “work together” with France.

“We have a lot to do to overcome today’s challenges,” Macron said in a tweet on Twitter.

Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden will find himself facing an immediate public healthcare crisis when he takes office in January 20, 2021, thereby exerting pressure on his health team now to hit the ground running.

Biden has been receiving briefings for months from health experts, led by Vivek Murthy, surgeon general during the Obama administration, and David Kessler, a former FDA commissioner.

Other experts who have briefed Biden include Celine Gounder of New York University and Yale’s Marcella Nunez-Smith.

Those experts are expected to continue advising during the transition, and Biden said Saturday evening that he will soon announce his COVID-19 task force.

Biden said in his first speech as President-elect Saturday night: “On Monday, I will name a group of leading scientists and experts as transition advisers, to help take the Biden-Harris COVID plan and convert it into an action blueprint that will start on January 20, 2021.

“That plan will be built on bedrock science.”

Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius told The Hill on Friday she expects Biden’s task force could start holding public briefings between now and Inauguration Day.

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