President Joe Biden met briefly yesterday with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, and Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marles of Australia on the sidelines of the summit. “The leaders discussed the increasing connectivity between Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific security, noting that challenges in one region affect the other,” the White House readout reported. It continued:
“They strongly condemned Russia’s war against Ukraine, and each pledged to continue to support Ukraine in its self-defense. President Biden welcomed the courageous support to Ukraine offered by each of NATO’s Indo-Pacific Partners. The leaders also strongly condemned the unlawful arms transfers from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (D.P.R.K.) to Russia, which undermine peace and stability in both the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic regions. They expressed grave concern over the increasing military and economic cooperation between Russia and the D.P.R.K., which violates multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions. The leaders also discussed their shared concerns over the People’s Republic of China’s support to Russia’s defense industrial base.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also met with the same four leaders, and he said that those four countries and NATO “will address our shared security challenges, including Russia’s war against Ukraine, China’s support for Russia’s war economy, and the growing alignment of authoritarian powers,” according to a NATO statement. “In response, we must work ever more closely together to preserve peace and protect the rules-based international order,” he added.