Not again! Biden gives up after botching acronym and says it ‘doesn’t matter what we call it’ as he hosts Pacific Island forum amid rising China threat

President Joe Biden was briefly flagged when he announced a plan to invest $40 billion in infrastructure for Pacific islands — and then skipped the acronym for the new program he was touting after botching the name during delivery.

Biden announced the Pacific Islands Initiative at the start of a White House summit for Pacific island nations.

“We call it the P… PI… anyway, it doesn’t matter what we call it, but that’s what it is,” he said.

Then he said, “I wanted to go back to the acronyms and I’m not going to do that,” he joked, drawing laughter from attendees in the White House East Room.

Biden, 80, has spoken of the uphill task of overcoming a speech impediment during his youth, although his stumbles are gaining attention amid voters’ concerns about his age. Last week, he mentioned the name of the Black caucus instead of the Spanish caucus and bumped the Brazilian flag at an event at the UN, amid polls showing him essentially tied to Donald Trump.

Then at Monday’s meeting, Biden began touting some of what those investments would be, with support from Congress — at a time when the U.S. is courting countries big and small in the region amid China’s muscle .

He said these include digital connectivity, global investments in infrastructure and microfinance, along with sustainable fisheries and efforts to tackle climate change and rising sea levels.

“I want you to know that I hear you… we hear your warnings of the rising seas,” he said.

“We hear your reassuring calls that you will never lose your statehood or membership in the UN as a result of the climate crisis,” Biden said. Smaller countries represent an influential bloc at the UN.

At the top of his remarks, Biden thanked the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, who he said had brought an “incredible gift.”

It was a small piece of an A20 aircraft.

Biden then told a story, saying, “During World War II, my uncle was in the Army Air Corps and had flown many missions across the Pacific. He ‘fI flew a lot of missions in that A20,” Biden said.

“In 1944, during one of those missions, his plane crashed off the coast of Papua New Guinea,” Biden said. ‘My uncle’s remains were never recovered, never found.”

He said Gen. Douglas MacArthur had sent a letter of condolence. “He died participating in a crusade that would create a better world for all,” the general wrote.

Biden apologized for having to cancel a planned trip to Papua New Guinea earlier this year amid talks about avoiding default on a debt limit.

According to the US Trade and Development Agency, that a call for proposalsthe program Biden called is called the Pacific Island Strategic Infrastructure Initiative.

Biden hosted Pacific island leaders on Monday for a second White House summit, part of a three-day US charm offensive to block further Chinese invasion of a strategic region that Washington has long considered its own backyard.

Ahead of the White House welcome for leaders, Biden announced U.S. diplomatic recognition of two more Pacific islands, the Cook Islands and Niue. The US will also pledge new money for infrastructure for the region, including to improve internet connectivity through undersea cables, and honor regional leaders at an NFL game.

Biden held an opening summit with the islanders at the White House a year ago and was due to meet them again in Papua New Guinea in May. That plan was scrapped when a U.S. debt ceiling crisis forced Biden to cut short a trip to Asia.

At last year’s summit with 14 Pacific island nations, the Biden administration pledged to help islanders fend off China’s “economic coercion.” ‘

The White House said it would focus this year on priorities including climate change, economic growth, sustainable development, public health and combating illegal fishing.

Announcing the recognition of the Cook Islands and Niue as sovereign and independent states, Biden said the move would “allow us to expand the scope of this lasting partnership as we seek to address the challenges most important to the lives of our peoples.’

He said the U.S. has a long history of cooperation with the Cook Islands, dating back to World War II, when the U.S. military built runways in one of the chain’s atolls. He said Niue played “a crucial and constructive role in the Pacific,” including supporting sustainable development, security, marine protection and ocean conservation.

On Sunday, Baltimore Island leaders visited a Coast Guard cutter in port in Baltimore and were briefed by the Coast Guard commander on efforts to combat illegal fishing, an official said.

They also attended Sunday’s National Football League game between the Baltimore Ravens and the Indianapolis Colts. Dozens of NFL players are of Pacific Islander heritage.

SOME SKIP TOP

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, who has deepened his country’s ties with China, will skip the summit. A senior Biden administration official said the US was “disappointed” by Sogavare’s decision.

Washington appears to have made no progress on offers of substantial infrastructure financing and expanded aid to the Solomon Islands. Sogavare visited China in July and announced a police deal with Beijing that builds on a security pact signed last year.

The White House said in 2022 that the US would invest more than $810 million in expanded programs to help the Pacific islands.

Meg Keen, director of Pacific Island Programs at Australia’s Lowy Institute, said while the US had opened new embassies and USAID offices in the region since last year’s summit, Congress had yet to approve the funds.

She added that Pacific island states “welcome the US’s renewed involvement in the region, but do not want geopolitical fighting to result in an escalation of militarization.”

Vanuatu Prime Minister Sato Kilman will also not attend the summit, his office told Reuters.

Kilman was chosen by lawmakers two weeks ago to replace Ishmael Kalsakau, who lost a vote of no confidence due to, among other things, signing a security treaty with US ally Australia.

The US is still negotiating the opening of an embassy in Vanuatu but has not significantly increased its engagement with the country, which considers China its largest external creditor. China sent police experts to Vanuatu last month and signed a police agreement.

A senior Biden administration official said the US was on track to open Vanuatu’s embassy early next year and that other Vanuatu officials would attend the summit.

Fiji has welcomed the stronger US regional presence as making the Pacific ‘safer’, but Kiribati, one of the most remote Pacific island states 4,000km southwest of Hawaii, said this year it plans to to upgrade the former war situation. Two runways with Chinese help.

Washington this year renewed agreements with Palau and Micronesia that give it exclusive military access to strategic parts of the Pacific, but has yet to do so with the Marshall Islands, which wants more money to address the legacy of massive US nuclear testing in the 1940s to grab. and 1950s.

A Biden administration official said he was confident of reaching a deal with the Marshall Islands.