拜登政府今年的大部分注意力都集中在俄罗斯入侵伊拉克上乌克兰,乔·拜登总统他星期四将注意力转向亚洲，开始对韩国和日本进行访问。白宫说，这次访问对他的外交政策议程来说是“关键时刻”。
此行将标志着总统上任以来首次访问该地区，并将重点关注朝鲜和中国。虽然总统在竞选中大力强调将中国作为其外交政策的主要焦点，但乌克兰战争最近占据了拜登的外交议程。
虽然白宫可能希望此行表明总统并没有忽视中国带来的挑战，但乌克兰仍将是此行的一大亮点。
白宫国家安全顾问杰克·沙利文周三表示，“拜登总统团结了自由世界，捍卫乌克兰，反对俄罗斯的侵略。”“他仍然专注于确保我们在这些任务中的努力取得成功，但他也打算抓住这一时刻，这一关键时刻，在世界上另一个重要地区——印度太平洋——展示美国大胆而自信的领导力。”
拜登将从首尔开始他的旅程，并在东京结束这次访问。沙利文说，这将是一个“重申和加强两个至关重要的安全联盟”和“深化两个充满活力的经济伙伴关系”的机会
“我们在此行中试图传递的信息是一个积极的愿景，即如果世界上的民主和开放社会共同制定道路规则，确定该地区的安全架构，加强强大的历史性联盟，世界会是什么样子。我们认为，在四天的时间里，通过与韩国和日本的双边合作，通过四方，通过印度-太平洋经济框架，这将传递一个强有力的信息。我们认为，这一信息将在任何地方都能听到。”
当被问及此行传达的信息在多大程度上是对中国及其对台湾的侵略的警示时，沙利文说，这一信息“将在北京听到，但这不是一个负面信息，它不针对任何一个国家。”
在韩国期间，拜登总统预计将会见尹锡友总统，“与技术和制造业领袖接触”，他们“正在美国动员数十亿美元的投资”，他还将访问美国和韩国军队，他们正“肩并肩地站在一起，防御”朝鲜构成的威胁。
白宫新闻秘书郭佳欣·让-皮埃尔说，拜登此行将不会访问朝鲜非军事区(DMZ)。他在2013年作为副总统访问了该地区，并在参议院任职。
不过，沙利文继续重申，美国情报继续显示，2002年加大导弹发射力度的朝鲜领导人金正恩(Kim Jon Un)可能会在总统访问该地区之前、期间或之后进行远程导弹试验和/或核试验。
沙利文对记者说:“我们正在为所有突发事件做准备，包括当我们在朝鲜或日本时，这种挑衅可能会发生。”。
他说，美国正在与韩国和日本的盟友以及中国的同行进行协调。
“我们显然准备对我们的军事态势进行必要的短期和长期调整，以确保我们为我们在该地区的盟友提供防御和威慑，然后我们对朝鲜的任何挑衅做出回应。”
在日本，拜登将会见日本首相岸田文雄，讨论经济关系和包括朝鲜在内的全球安全问题，他们还将为该地区发起一项新的经济倡议。
沙利文说:“我们亲切地称之为IPEF的印太经济框架是21世纪的经济安排，是旨在应对新经济挑战的新模式。”。“从制定数字经济的规则，到确保安全和有弹性的供应链，到管理能源转型，再到投资清洁的现代高标准基础设施。”
在东京期间，拜登还将亲自与澳大利亚、印度和日本的外长参加第二次四方峰会。他们最近一次会面是在9月的白宫。
Biden embarks for Asia with a heavy focus on China and North Korea
With much of the Biden administration's attention this year focused on Russia's invasion ofUkraine,President Joe Bidenturns his attention to Asia Thursday as he embarks on a visit to South Korea and Japan -- a trip that the White House says "comes at a pivotal moment" for his foreign policy agenda.
The trip will mark the president's first trip to the region since taking office and will feature a heavy focus onNorth KoreaandChina. While the president campaigned heavily on making China a main focus of his foreign policy, the war in Ukraine has occupied Biden's foreign agenda of late.
While the White House may hope that the trip shows that the president has not taken his eye off the challenge China poses, Ukraine will still loom large over the trip.
"President Biden has rallied the free world in defense of Ukraine and in opposition to Russian aggression," White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Wednesday. "He remains focused on ensuring that our efforts in those missions are successful, but he also intends to seize this moment, this pivotal moment, to assert bold and confident American leadership in another vital region of the world -- the Indo-Pacific."
Biden will begin his journey in Seoul and wrap the visit in Tokyo. Sullivan said this will be an "opportunity to reaffirm and reinforce two vital security alliances" and to "deepen two vibrant economic partnerships."
"The message we're trying to send on this trip is a message of an affirmative vision of what the world can look like if the democracies and open societies of the world stand together to shape the rules of the road, to define the security architecture of the region, to reinforce strong, powerful, historic alliances, and we think putting that on display over four days bilaterally with the ROK and Japan, through the Quad, through the Indo-Pacific economic framework, it will send a powerful message. We think that message will be heard everywhere."
Asked to what extent is the message of this trip is a cautionary tale delivered to China and their aggression towards Taiwan, Sullivan said the message "will be heard in Beijing, but it is not a negative message, and it's not targeted at any one country."
While in South Korea, President Biden is expected to meet with President Yoon Seok-youl, "engage with technology and manufacturing leaders" who are "mobilizing billions of dollars in investment here in the United States," and he will visit American and South Korean troops who are "standing shoulder-to-shoulder in defense" of threats posed by North Korea.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden will not be visiting the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) this trip. He visited the area as vice president in 2013 and while serving in the Senate.
Sullivan, though, continued to repeat that U.S. intelligence continues to show that North Korean leader Kim Jon Un, who ramped up missile launches in 2002, could launch a long-range missile test, nuclear test, or both in the days leading into, on, or after the president's trip to the region.
"We are preparing for all contingencies, including the possibility that such a provocation would occur while we are in Korea or in Japan," Sullivan told reporters.
He said that the U.S. is coordinating with allies in South Korea and Japan, as well as counterparts in China.
"We are prepared obviously to make both short and longer-term adjustments to our military posture as necessary to ensure that we are providing both defense and deterrence to our allies in the region and then we're responding to any North Korean provocation."
In Japan, Biden will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to discuss economic relations and global security issues, including North Korea, and they launch a new economic initiative for the region.
"The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, IPEF, as we affectionately call it, is a 21st century economic arrangement, a new model designed to tackle new economic challenges," Sullivan said. "From setting the rules of the digital economy, to ensuring secure and resilient supply chains, to managing the energy transition, to investing in clean modern high standards infrastructure."
And while in Tokyo, Biden will also participate in a second in-person Quad summit with his counterparts from Australia, India and Japan. They last met in September at the White House.
