For lame duck Biden, an anticlimactic exit from the world stage

As events unfold this week at what are likely to be the last multilateral events on US President Joe Biden’s calendar before he leaves office, it is evident how much his power is waning on the international stage.

While happy to honour the veteran public servant – who turns 82 on Wednesday – world leaders know that the US political winds have shifted dramatically after his party’s resounding defeat on November 5 at the hands of president-elect Donald Trump.

“This is not going to be a swan song for Biden. Not only is he a lame duck, but a super lame duck because his successor is going to have very different policies than he is,” said Erin Murphy, senior fellow with the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

During the bilateral meetings Biden has planned on the sidelines of this week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Peru and next week’s G20 in Brazil, there is little he can promise, deliver or is of much use to China or US allies as the spotlight rapidly shifts to Trump 2.0.

On his calendar include Chinese leader Xi Jinping and a joint meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

Biden’s fading spotlight stands in stark contrast to the Biden-Xi summit a year ago at Apec in northern California. The world was gripped as the two economic giants stabilised their imploding relationship and resumed dialogue on military contact, artificial intelligence and illicit drug production.

“In terms of bilats or having little mini-laterals with leaders, I don’t think there’s going to be a whole lot of interest,” Murphy said. “There’s nothing that Biden can do today that could prevent changes in a couple of months.”