Biden commits to peace as UN dwells on fleet

Joe Biden told the UN yesterday that the US withdrawal from Afghanistan was a turning point in history in which “relentless war” would be supplanted by “relentless diplomacy”, as he pledged a renewed commitment to the UN and to his nation’s alliances in his first speech to the general assembly since succeeding Donald Trump.

To back up his promise Biden said the US would give $11bn a year to developing nations to support their response to the global climate emergency, making the country the leading provider of climate finance.

“As I stand here today, for the first time in 20 years, the United States is not at war. We’ve turned the page,” Biden said. “All the unmatched strength, energy, commitment, will and resources of our nation are now fully and squarely focused on what’s ahead of us, not what was behind.”

In a hastily arranged change to the schedule, China’s president, Xi Jinping, addressed the assembly a few hours later.

“One country’s success does not have to mean another country’s failure,” he said in a pre-recorded speech. “The world is big enough to accommodate common development and progress of all countries.”

Without mentioning the US, he warned “military intervention from the outside and so-called democratic transformation entail nothing but harm”.

Biden’s tone was in dramatic contrast to his predecessor. While Trump made no secret of his distrust of the UN, Biden called the organisation a “noble institution”.

World leaders responded with scepticism, though, to Biden’s appeals for peace, coming just days after it was revealed that the US, UK and Australia had been secretly negotiating over a new fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.

The chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan was also widely viewed among UN states as rushed for domestic political reasons, with little regard for the Afghans left behind to face the Taliban.

nance represents a doubling of US aid but while Biden said he was confident wealthy countries would meet a collective pledge to provide $100bn to help poorer nations deal with floods, heat and other impacts, he urged governments to do more to address the climate emergency.

“This year’s brought widespread death and devastation from the borderless climate crisis,” Biden said. “We are fast approaching the point of no return … Will we meet the threat of the more challenging climate already ravaging every part of our world with extreme weather, or we will we suffer the merciless march of ever worsening droughts and floods, more intense fires and hurricanes, longer heatwaves and rising seas?”