(NewsNation) — President Biden will cut his Asia-Pacific visit short and return to the U.S. on Sunday to continue debt ceiling negotiations, canceling what would have been the first visit by a sitting U.S. president to a Pacific Island country.
The White House announced on Tuesday that Biden’s planned stops in Australia and Papua New Guinea were canceled as the U.S. tries to reaffirm its ties with Pacific nations amid rising tensions with China.
Gordon Chang, author of “The Coming Collapse of China,” said the move “was wrong on all counts,” and Biden should’ve continued his trip because the U.S. has handed China a “very big win.”
“This is a debacle for the United States, one of the most severe setbacks for American foreign policy this century. China, with some very aggressive policy, was taking over the Pacific,” Chang said. “Really, what we have here is the United States, even if it works hard, is going to take years to overcome this.”
The president spoke to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday to inform him that he would be “postponing” his visit to Australia and invited him for an official visit to the U.S., press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
Jean-Pierre added that the president’s team “engaged” with the Papua New Guinea prime minister’s team to inform them of the canceled visit.
Chang said Biden should’ve engaged in debt negotiations via telephone, and continued the visit to countries such as Canberra, but especially with Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea had declared next Monday a public holiday in anticipation of a historic visit by Biden and other leaders from the region. Expectations were high for what would have been the first visit by a sitting U.S. President to any Pacific Island nation.
“Now we are going to have to deal with that fallout, Chang said. “So, China is gonna field day with this.”