Biden, NATO: Ready to Talk China,Russia06/14 06:12

   President Joe Biden makes his entrance at a NATO summit aiming to consult 
European allies on efforts to counter provocative actions by China and Russia 
while highlighting the U.S. commitment to the 30-country alliance that was 
frequently maligned by predecessor Donald Trump.

   BRUSSELS (AP) -- President Joe Biden makes his entrance at a NATO summit 
aiming to consult European allies on efforts to counter provocative actions by 
China and Russia while highlighting the U.S. commitment to the 30-country 
alliance that was frequently maligned by predecessor Donald Trump.

   The summit Monday comes as Biden tries to rally allies for greater 
coordination in checking China and Russia, two adversaries whose actions on 
economic and national security fronts have become the chief foreign policy 
concerns in the early going of the Biden presidency.

   Biden will use his time at the summit to underscore the U.S. commitment to 
Article 5 of the alliance charter, which spells out that an attack on one 
member is an attack on all and is to be met with a collective response.

   "I will make it clear that the United States' commitment to our NATO 
alliance and Article 5 is rock solid," Biden told U.S. troops in the United 
Kingdom last week on the first stop of his eight-day European trip. "It's a 
sacred obligation."

   The White House said the communique to be signed by alliance members at the 
end of the NATO summit is expected to include language about updating Article 5 
to include major cyber attacks -- a matter of growing concern amid a series of 
hacks targeting the U.S. government and businesses around the globe by 
Russia-based hackers.

   The update will spell out that if an alliance member needs technical or 
intelligence support in response to a cyber attack, it would be able to invoke 
the mutual defense provision to receive assistance, according to White House 
national security adviser Jake Sullivan.

   The president will begin his day meeting with leaders of the Baltic states 
on NATO's eastern flank regarding the "threat posed by Russia," China and the 
recent air piracy in Belarus, according to Sullivan. He'll also meet with NATO 
secretary Jens Stoltenberg and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

   Biden's itinerary in Europe has been shaped so that he would first gather 
with Group of Seven leaders for a three-day summit on the craggy shores of 
Cornwall and then with NATO allies in Brussels before his much-anticipated 
meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva on Wednesday.

   At the G-7, leaders sought to convey that the club of wealthy democracies -- 
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States 
-- is a better friend to poorer nations than authoritarian rivals such as China 
and Russia.

   The G-7 meeting ended with a communique that called out forced labor 
practices and other human rights violations impacting Uyghur Muslims and other 
ethnic minorities in the western Xinjiang province. The president declined to 
discuss private summit negotiations over the provision, but said he was 
"satisfied" with the communique, although differences remain among the allies 
about how forcefully to call out Beijing.

   Biden is focused on building a more cohesive bond between America and allies 
who had become wary of U.S. leadership after enduring four years of Trump's 
name-calling and frequent invectives about the relevance of multilateral 
alliances like NATO.

   The last administration was at odds with some leading NATO members, 
including Britain, Germany and France, over Trump's 2018 decision to pull out 
of the Iran nuclear agreement that was brokered during the Obama 
administration. The accord limited Iran's uranium enrichment program in 
exchange for an easing of sanctions.

   Trump and other critics felt the deal gave Tehran too many economic benefits 
without doing enough to prevent Iran from eventually developing a nuclear 
weapon. The Biden administration is now seeking a path to resurrecting the 
accord.

   Trump also complained that the NATO alliance allows "global freeloading" 
countries to spend less on military defense at the expense of the U.S. and 
dismissed the alliance as "obsolete."

   Biden offered a pointed rejoinder on Sunday, saying: "We do not view NATO as 
a sort of a protection racket. We believe that NATO is vital to our ability to 
maintain American security for ... the remainder of the century. And there's a 
real enthusiasm."

   When alliance members last met for a summit in England in December 2019, 
Trump grabbed headlines by calling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau 
"two-faced" and French President Emmanuel Macron "nasty."

   Trump lashed out after Trudeau was caught on a hot mic gossiping with other 
leaders about Trump turning photo opportunities into long news conferences. 
Ahead of the summit, Macron had declared NATO "brain dead" because of a void in 
U.S. leadership under Trump.

   Biden has already acknowledged during his Europe tour that the alliance 
needs to ensure better burden sharing and needs stepped up American leadership. 
He's also highlighted NATO members' contributions in the war in Afghanistan.

   The U.S. and the alliance are winding down their involvement in the nearly 
20-year war that killed tens of thousands of Afghans and more than 3,500 U.S. 
and allied troops, while raising profound questions about whether NATO's most 
ambitious effort was worth it.

   The military effort followed the 2001 arrival of a U.S.-led coalition that 
ousted the Taliban for harboring al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

   For now, NATO plans to leave civilian advisers to help build up government 
institutions. It's unclear who will protect them. The alliance is also weighing 
whether to train Afghan special forces outside the country.

   NATO members are also expected to endorse the creation of a new cyber 
defense policy to improve coordination with countries impacted by the 
increasing frequency of ransomware attacks, a climate security action plan to 
reduce greenhouse gases from military activities in line with national 
commitments under the Paris Agreement and a commitment to strengthen NATO's 
deterrence to meet threats from Russia and elsewhere, according to the White 
House.

   Biden will also meet with Turkey's President, Erdogan, on Monday on the 
sidelines of the summit.

   Biden has known Erdogan for years but their relationship has frequently been 
contentious. Biden, during his campaign, drew ire from Turkish officials after 
he described Erdogan as an "autocrat." In April, Biden infuriated Ankara by 
declaring that the Ottoman-era mass killing and deportations of Armenians was 
"genocide" -- a term that U.S. presidents have avoided using.

   The two leaders were expected to discuss Syria and Iran as well as what role 
Turkey can play on Afghanistan following the U.S. troop withdrawal, according 
to the White House. Also on the agenda: how Washington and Ankara "deal with 
some of our significant differences on values and human rights and other 
issues," Sullivan said.

   The unsettled security situation in Libya, as well as overlapping concerns 
on China and Russia are also expected to be discussed.