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

WILMINGTON, Del. — 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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