Joe Biden was back on the (virtual) stage of the Munich Security Conference Friday. And, addressing an international audience for the first time as president, he proclaimed repeatedly that the U.S. was back at the forefront of the transatlantic alliance.
“When I last spoke in Munich, I was a private citizen, I was a professor, not an elected official,” Biden told the conference chairman, Wolfgang Ischinger, who was veritably glowing as he emceed a panel that included the American president, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.
“But I said at that time, ‘We will be back,’ and I am a man of my word,” Biden said. “America is back.”
The speech, following a videoconference of G7 leaders convened by U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, marked a triumphant return to the world stage for Biden, the former vice president and globetrotting senator who long chaired the Foreign Relations Committee while in Congress. Much of Biden’s message felt familiar — and for many listeners, especially those in Europe, that was the best part.
“Democracy doesn’t happen by accident,” Biden said at one point. “We have to defend it.”
Last year, the audience at the major annual foreign policy gathering at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof reacted with stunned silence to a speech by then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in which he rejected assertions by European leaders, including German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, that U.S. President Donald Trump had turned his back on European allies. A year earlier, the audience was similarly jarred after a speech by Vice President Mike Pence that some participants said would have been more appropriately delivered at a Trump campaign rally. Pence ended by declaring “God bless America.”
This year, Biden’s speech could not have been more different.
“It comes down to this,” he declared. “The partnership between Europe and the United States in my view is, and must remain, the cornerstone of all we hope to accomplish in the 21st century, just as we did in the 20th century.”
Biden acknowledged that the world, reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, is far different in 2021 and facing an array of new challenges. But unlike Trump — who berated allies for not spending more on their militaries, expressed affinity for dictators and generally sowed unease on nearly all of his trips abroad — Biden offered only steadfast reassurance.
Where Trump called the European Union a foe, Biden held it up as a close partner. Where Trump warned NATO allies that the U.S. could go its own way, Biden said the alliance was unshakeable.
“Let me erase any lingering doubt,” he said. “The United States will work closely with our European Union partners in the capitals across the continent, from Rome to Riga, to meet the range of shared challenges we face.”
Invoking the collective defense clause of the NATO treaty, Biden said: “We’ll keep faith with Article 5. It’s a guarantee. An attack on one is an attack on all. That is our unshakeable vow. And the only time Article 5 has been invoked was after the United States was attacked on 9/11. You, our allies, joined us to fight Al Qaeda.”
Biden also had tough words for Russia. “The Kremlin attacks our democracies and weaponizes corruption to try to undermine our system of governance,” he said. “Russian leaders want people to think our system is more corrupt or as corrupt as theirs. But the world knows that isn’t true, including Russia’s own citizens.”
Biden expressed support for Ukraine, part of which Russia annexed in 2014, and vowed to fight Russian meddling in the West, including Moscow’s digital assaults.
On coronavirus vaccines, Biden pledged an additional $2 billion to the COVAX international vaccine-access initiative, a vow that comes as wealthy nations have faced criticism for not helping to deploy coronavirus vaccines faster in the developing world.
Biden also talked about fighting climate change, and mentioned teaming up with allies to confront China.
“We must prepare together for long-term strategic competition with China,” he said. “Competition with China is going to be stiff.” He called on Europe to work with America to “push back against the Chinese government’s economic abuses and coercion.”
Biden also talked about cooperation in space exploration, including efforts to explore Mars.
Overall, it was a message of confidence and unbending cooperation.
“The range of challenges the U.S. and Europe must take on together is broad and complex,” Biden said, noting he was eager to listen to Merkel and Macron’s speeches. “The last four years have been hard, but Europe and the United States have to lead with confidence once more.”
Stuart Lau contributed reporting.