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US presidential election 2020
This Week in AsiaPolitics

Asian leaders see renewed hope in Biden and US return to multilateralism

  • Muhyiddin, Modi and others send congratulations on ‘spectacular’ victory amid expectations for better leadership on world stage
  • Analysts were watching for clues as to who the incoming administration would appoint as key principals in dealing with Asia

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Local residents wearing masks of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris wave as they ride on a trishaw along a street in Solo, central Java, Indonesia. Photo: AFP
Bhavan Jaipragas
Asian governments are expecting US President-elect Joe Biden to swiftly underscore his intention to bring America back to the multilateralism fold, Washington’s former regional envoys and other observers said on Sunday, as congratulatory messages for the victorious Democrat flowed in from across the Asia-Pacific region.
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The observers acknowledged that the Biden transition team was unlikely to flesh out its foreign policy staffing in the coming days – with its Covid-19 pandemic response and budgetary policies seen as requiring more urgent attention.

Still, the analysts said their eyes remained peeled for clues on who the incoming administration would appoint as the key principals in dealing with Asia.
Congratulatory messages for Biden began to come in early on Sunday, shortly after multiple major US outlets called the election for the 77-year-old former vice-president. In a break from tradition, the felicitations from foreign governments came through before a formal concession by the defeated incumbent, President Donald Trump.

Reports have said Trump is not expected to concede defeat as he looks to challenge the results in the US Supreme Court. Going by the latest count, Biden is poised to win 306 electoral college votes, a comfortable margin above the 270-vote threshold for victory. With nearly 75.5 million votes, or 51 per cent of all ballots cast, his popular vote share is the biggest in the country’s history.

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Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih – who hosted Trump’s top diplomat, Michael Pompeo, days before the November 3 election – was among the first world leaders to congratulate Biden and the vice-president-elect, Kamala Harris.

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