美国总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)周三开始了上任以来的首次海外之旅，寻求重申美国在世界舞台上与熟悉的盟友的地位，并将自己描绘成自由世界的领导人，包括在他与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京(Vladimir Putin)的首次面对面会晤中。

乔·吉登斯/泳池通过美联社

乔·拜登总统和第一夫人吉尔·拜登登上英国皇家空军一号抵达英国

在英国皇家空军基地米尔登霍尔着陆后，拜登向驻扎在那里的美国军人发表了热情洋溢的讲话，告诉他们他要去日内瓦“会见普京先生，让他知道我想让他知道的事情。”

“我将前往日内瓦，与一位我曾与之共度时光的人——弗拉基米尔·普京总统——坐在一起，”拜登说，台下1000名飞行员中的许多人、他们的配偶和孩子发出了欢呼声。“我们不寻求与俄罗斯发生冲突。我们想要稳定的、可预测的关系。我们两国共同承担着难以置信的责任，其中包括确保战略稳定和维护军控协议。”

这是拜登欧洲之行的第一站，他阐述了他此行的许多重大主题:美国重返世界舞台，重申对北约的支持，以及庆祝多边主义以应对世界上最大的挑战——从流行病到全球变暖，从俄罗斯到中国。

拜登说:“在前进的每一步，我们都要表明，美国回来了，世界民主国家站在一起，应对最严峻的挑战和对我们未来最重要的问题，我们致力于以实力领导，捍卫我们的价值观，为我们的人民服务。”

凯文·拉马克/路透社

乔·拜登总统向驻扎在RA的美国空军人员及其家属发表讲话

他严肃的语气与拜登在马里兰州空军一号登机前与记者开玩笑的时刻形成了对比。“小心蝉，”拜登警告他们说，他不得不刷掉脖子上的一只。“我刚得到一个，它得到了我。”

(德尔塔发言人说，由于蝉使飞机的辅助动力装置失效，白宫的一份新闻宪章于周一晚间被推迟。)

帕特里克·斯曼斯基/美联社

乔·拜登总统哑剧般地讲述了他早些时候不得不把一只蝉从脖子上刷下来的经历像他一样

白宫星期二预演了他的旅行。

“他已经准备了50年。他一直在世界舞台上。几十年来，他已经认识了许多这样的领导人，包括普京总统，以及他将在北约和七国集团中见到的许多领导人。现在，这是他亲自见他们的一个重要机会，没有什么比面对面的外交接触更好的了。

此行的高潮将是他作为总统第一次与俄语普京下周三在日内瓦。在那里，拜登将被迫走一条细线。白宫表示，他计划发出强烈警告，网络安全、军事和政治领域的恶意攻击将不再被容忍，同时避免已经紧张的关系升级，寻求恢复“可预测性”和“稳定性”。

在峰会之前，拜登希望在英国举行的七国集团峰会和布鲁塞尔举行的北约峰会上，得到美国长期盟友的支持。特朗普时代的冲击过后，欧洲盟友对此保持警惕，他们将指望拜登向他们保证，过去四年的政治动荡与其说是真正的巨变，不如说是昙花一现，拜登的“美国回来了”口号背后有实质内容。

“这是我们时代的一个决定性问题:在一个迅速变化的世界中，民主能否走到一起，为我们的人民带来真正的结果?塑造了上个世纪如此之多的民主联盟和机构会证明他们对抗现代威胁和对手的能力吗?我相信答案是肯定的。本周在欧洲，我们有机会证明这一点点评《华盛顿邮报》周日报道。

一路上，拜登将试图以一种吸引国内美国人的方式来构建这一切。他将与世界领导人讨论一系列问题，从气候变化到税收，从国防到贸易，并努力说服美国人，这一切都是为了他的“重建得更好”议程;推动从流行病的经济衰退中公平复苏。

在拜登为期八天的海外之旅中，有几个关键问题需要跟踪。

对俄罗斯的警告?

拜登第一次出国访问最令人期待的事件将是他与俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京的峰会，拜登打算与他之前所说的人讨论一系列问题他认为自己没有灵魂。

“在我与普京总统的电话中，我一直是明确和直接的。美国不寻求冲突。拜登在他的论坛版中写道:“我们希望建立一种稳定和可预测的关系，在战略稳定和军备控制等问题上与俄罗斯合作。”。

亚历山大·纳特罗斯金/路透社，文件

时任俄罗斯总理弗拉基米尔·普京与时任美国副总统乔·拜登握手

“与此同时，我还对侵犯美国主权的行为施加了有意义的后果，包括干涉我们的民主选举。普京总统知道，我会毫不犹豫地对未来的有害活动做出回应。当我们会面时，我将再次强调美国、欧洲和志同道合的民主国家捍卫人权和尊严的承诺。

Psaki预览了最近的网络攻击和使用勒索软件的热潮，据信是由俄罗斯的实体实施的，该国在乌克兰的侵略行动将是会议期间讨论的一些话题。

在会议之前，白宫表示，它不会带着具体的“可交付成果”参加峰会。

白宫国家安全顾问杰克·沙利文(Jake Sullivan)周一对记者表示:“我们认为美俄峰会不是关于可交付成果的，因为如果你要等待真正重要的可交付成果，你可能会等待很长时间，这是可以想象的。”

全球流行病援助

笼罩拜登之行的将是新冠肺炎病毒——改变了事件的主题和过程。

在七国集团，拜登已经习惯了美国疾病控制和预防中心的最新指南，允许完全接种疫苗的美国人在大多数情况下不戴口罩，他将不得不回到严格的要求。在英国，随着疫苗推广的滞后，对第三次新冠肺炎病毒激增的担忧正在蔓延。

印度总理纳伦德拉·莫迪应邀出席了七国集团峰会，但由于该国的新冠肺炎危机而婉拒。

埃文·武奇/美联社，档案

在这张2021年4月21日的档案照片中，乔·拜登总统谈到了新冠肺炎在

拜登面临的真正挑战是满足盟友和合作伙伴分享新冠肺炎疫苗的要求。美国承诺到6月底在全球分享8000万剂，并已经宣布了2500万剂的目的地。到目前为止，美国承诺分享8000万剂疫苗的数量是任何其他国家的五倍，但这远远不足以满足世界各地的需求。

在4月份的上一次七国集团虚拟会议上，各国领导人不愿承诺分享具体的剂量，也不愿提供时间表。周一，一组智库和公共卫生专家呼吁七国集团领导人承诺在2021年底前分享10亿至20亿剂疫苗，以便在2022年底前促进全球范围内的疫苗接种。

大西洋理事会地理经济中心副主任朱莉娅·弗里兰德说:“一切，一切都取决于疫苗的分发，七国集团的成功和发达国家的持久复苏，取决于向发展中国家的分发，当然，我们在发展中国家获得了大部分供应链。”。

回到北约的基础

在美国前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)在世界舞台上代表美国四年后，拜登将首次作为总统出访。

拜登在峰会上写道:“在这个全球不确定的时刻，当世界仍在努力应对百年一遇的流行病时，这次访问是为了实现美国对我们的盟友和伙伴的新承诺，并展示民主政体应对挑战和遏制新时代威胁的能力。”

特朗普在执政期间经常在北约会议上扰乱现状，有时批评该组织“过时”，但他预计拜登会采取更传统的策略。

拜登在他的论坛版中承诺，“申明美国对第5条的坚定承诺，并确保我们的联盟在面对每一个挑战时都是强大的，包括对我们关键基础设施的网络攻击等威胁。"

弗朗西斯科·塞科/美联社档案

在这张2019年12月4日的档案照片中，北约秘书长延斯·斯托尔滕贝格(左前)与P

拜登在欧洲的时间还将侧重于应对中国的挑战，承诺“世界主要民主国家将为中国提供高标准的替代方案，以升级更具弹性和支持全球发展的物理、数字和卫生基础设施。”

他写道:“随着新技术从根本上重塑我们的世界，暴露出像勒索软件攻击这样的漏洞，并制造出像入侵性人工智能驱动的监控这样的威胁，世界上的民主国家必须共同确保我们的价值观支配着这些创新的使用和发展——而不是独裁者的利益。”

拜登还将在布鲁塞尔会见欧盟委员会主席和欧洲理事会主席时向中国发表讲话。

“我们将专注于确保市场民主，而不是中国或其他任何人，围绕贸易和技术制定21世纪的规则。我们将继续追求一个完整、自由、和平的欧洲的目标

特殊关系

由于康沃尔是七国集团峰会的会址，这次访问为拜登提供了一个重新审视美国和英国之间所谓的“特殊关系”的机会。拜登在《华盛顿邮报》的专栏文章中使用了这个术语。

克里斯·杰克逊/路透社泳池，文件

英国伊丽莎白女王准备在议会上院发表演讲

战略与国际研究中心(Center for Strategic and International Studies)欧洲、俄罗斯和欧亚项目主任希瑟·阿·康利(Heather A. Conley)表示:“他说这些话的事实强化了这样一个事实，即即使作为副总统，拜登总统不支持英国退出欧盟，拜登总统也肯定注意到约翰逊总理与前总统特朗普在政治上有着非常相似的做法，我认为你真的看到了白宫将盟友置于最高优先地位的地方，甚至超过了他们所展示的一些决定和行为。”

拜登也将成为第12位会见伊丽莎白二世女王的美国总统。在菲利普亲王去世和一个孙女出生后，女王的个人生活发生了巨大的变化，这次会面就发生在这个时候。

Biden touches down in UK on 1st foreign trip as president, including summit with Putin

President Joe Biden on Wednesday embarked on his first overseas trip since taking office, seeking to reaffirm the United States' standing on the world stage with familiar allies, and portraying himself as the leader of the free world, including in his first face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

After touching down in the United Kingdom, at Royal Air Force Base Mildenhall, Biden delivered a fiery speech to American service members stationed there, telling them he was going to Geneva "to meet with Mister Putin to let him know what I want him to know."

"I'll travel to Geneva to sit down with a man I’ve spent time with before, President Vladimir Putin," Biden said to cheers from many of the 1,000 airmen, their spouses and children in the audience. "We are not seeking conflict with Russia. We want a stable, predictable relationship. Our two nations share incredible responsibilities and, among them, ensuring strategic stability and upholding arms control agreements."

It was Biden’s first stop on his trip to Europe, and he laid out many of the large themes of his trip: America’s return to the world stage, reaffirming support for NATO, and celebrating multilateralism to address the world’s greatest challenges -- from the pandemic to global warming, from Russia to China.

"At every point along the way," Biden said, "we're going to make it clear that the United States is back and democracies of the world are standing together to tackle the toughest challenges and the issues that matter most to our future, that we're committed to leading with strength, defending our values, and delivering for our people."

His serious tone was in contrast to a joking moment Biden had with reporters before boarding Air Force One in Maryland. "Watch out for cicadas," Biden warned them, saying he had to brush one off his neck. "I just got one, it got me."

(A White House press charter was delayed late Monday due to cicadas disabling the plane's auxiliary power unit, a Delta spokesperson said.)

The White House previewed his trip Tuesday.

"He's been getting ready for 50 years. He has been on the world stage. He's known a number of these leaders for decades, including President Putin, and including a number of the leaders he'll see at NATO and he'll see at the G-7. Now, this is an important opportunity for him to see them in person, and there's nothing like face-to-face engagement in diplomacy," press secretary Jen Psaki said.

The climax of the trip will be his first meeting as president withRussianPutin next Wednesday in Geneva. There, Biden will be forced to walk a fine line. He plans to deliver a strong warning that malign attacks in the cybersecurity, military and political spheres will no longer be tolerated, while avoiding any escalation in the already-tense relationship, seeking to restore "predictability" and "stability," the White House has said.

Leading into that summit, Biden hopes to shore up the backing of long-term U.S. allies at the G-7 summit in the United Kingdom and at a NATO summit in Brussels. Wary after the shock of the Trump era, European allies will be looking to Biden to assure them the political upheaval of the past four years was more a blip than a true sea change, and that there’s substance behind Biden’s "America is Back" catchphrase.

"This is a defining question of our time: Can democracies come together to deliver real results for our people in a rapidly changing world? Will the democratic alliances and institutions that shaped so much of the last century prove their capacity against modern-day threats and adversaries? I believe the answer is yes. And this week in Europe, we have the chance to prove it," Biden wrote in anop-edin the Washington Post Sunday.

Along the way, Biden will try to frame it all in a way that appeals to Americans at home. He’ll address a gamut of issues with world leaders, from climate change to taxes, from defense to trade, and work to persuade Americans that it’s all in service of his "Build Back Better" agenda; the push to recover equitably from the economic downturn of the pandemic.

Here are key issues to track during Biden’s eight-day overseas trip.

A warning to Russia?

The most anticipated event of Biden’s first trip abroad will be his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, where Biden intends to cover a range of issues with the man he previously saidhe didn’t think had a soul.

"In my phone calls with President Putin, I have been clear and direct. The United States does not seek conflict. We want a stable and predictable relationship where we can work with Russia on issues like strategic stability and arms control," Biden wrote in his op-ed.

"At the same time, I have also imposed meaningful consequences for behaviors that violate U.S. sovereignty, including interference in our democratic elections. And President Putin knows that I will not hesitate to respond to future harmful activities. When we meet, I will again underscore the commitment of the United States, Europe and like-minded democracies to stand up for human rights and dignity," he continued.

Psaki previewed the recent spree of cyberattacks and use of ransomware, believed to be perpetrated by entities in Russia, and the country’s aggressive actions in Ukraine would be some of the topics on the table during the meeting.

Ahead of the meeting, the White House said it was not going into the summit with specific "deliverables" in mind.

"We don't think in terms of US-Russia summits as being about deliverables because if you're going to wait for really significant deliverables, you could be waiting a long time, conceivably," White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday.

Global pandemic aid

Looming over all of Biden’s trip will be the COVID-19 virus -- altering both the subject matter and the proceedings of the events.

At the G-7, Biden, who has gotten used to updated U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance allowing fully vaccinated Americans to go maskless in most settings, will have to go back to strict requirements. In the U.K., fears of a third COVID-19 surge are swirling as the vaccine rollout has lagged.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was invited to attend the G-7, but declined due to the COVID-19 crisis in his country.

A real challenge for Biden will be meeting demands from allies and partners to share COVID-19 vaccines. The United States has committed to sharing 80 million doses around the globe by the end of June, and has already announced destinations for 25 million doses. The U.S. commitment to share 80 million doses is five times larger than any other country so far, but it’s not nearly enough to meet demand around the world.

During the last G-7 virtual meeting in April, leaders were unwilling to commit to sharing a specific number of doses, nor would they offer a timeline. On Monday, a group of think tanks and public health experts called for G-7 leaders to commit to sharing 1 billion to 2 billion doses by the end of 2021, in order to facilitate widespread global vaccination by the end of 2022.

"Everything, everything hangs on vaccine distribution and the success and the durable recovery of G-7 nations of developed countries, relies on the distribution to the developing world, where of course, we derive much of our supply chains,” said Julia Friedlander, deputy director of the Atlantic Council's GeoEconomics Center.

Back to basics at NATO

Biden will make his first trip as president in the wake of four years of former President Donald Trump representing the U.S. on the world stage.

"In this moment of global uncertainty, as the world still grapples with a once-in-a-century pandemic, this trip is about realizing America’s renewed commitment to our allies and partners, and demonstrating the capacity of democracies to both meet the challenges and deter the threats of this new age," Biden wrote of the summit.

While Trump often disrupted the status quo during NATO gatherings during his administration, and at times criticized the group as “obsolete,” expect Biden to take a more traditional tact.

In his op-ed, Biden pledged to "affirm the United States’ unwavering commitment to Article 5 and to ensuring our alliance is strong in the face of every challenge, including threats like cyberattacks on our critical infrastructure."

Biden’s time in Europe will also feature a focus on addressing the challenge of China, pledging that the "world’s major democracies will be offering a high-standard alternative to China for upgrading physical, digital and health infrastructure that is more resilient and supports global development."

"As new technologies reshape our world in fundamental ways, exposing vulnerabilities like ransomware attacks and creating threats such as invasive AI-driven surveillance, the democracies of the world must together ensure that our values govern the use and development of these innovations — not the interests of autocrats," he wrote.

Biden will also address China in his meetings with the president of the European Commission and the president of the European Council in Brussels.

"We will focus on ensuring that market democracies, not China or anyone else, write the 21st-century rules around trade and technology. And we will continue to pursue the goal of a Europe whole, free and at peace," Biden previewed

The special relationship

With Cornwall the site the G-7 summit, the trip provides an opportunity for Biden to recenter the so-called "special relationship" between the U.S. and the U.K. Biden used the term in his Washington Post op-ed.

"The fact that he said those words reinforces that even when, as vice president, President Biden didn’t support the U.K. departing the European Union, certainly President Biden has noted that Prime Minister Johnson had very similar approaches to politics as did former President Trump, I think you’re really seeing where the White House is placing allies as the highest priority, even over some of the decisions and the behaviors that they’ve exhibited,” said Heather A. Conley, director of the Europe, Russia, and Eurasia program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Biden will also become the 12th U.S. president to meet with Queen Elizabeth II. The meeting comes at a time of immense personal change for the Queen, after the death of Prince Philip and the birth of a granddaughter.