Vice President Joe Biden’s recent wave of meetings with foreign leaders now has many foreign officials wondering if he’s getting ready to run for the White House.
On Tuesday, Biden sat down with three heads of state and one top official during the United Nations meetings in New York. He presided over the anti-Islamic State summit, and as he concluded that meeting, Danish Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen accidentally promoted Biden.
“Mr. President, vice president — sorry,” Jensen reportedly said. “Well, could have been! Can be! Who knows? If you have … news … to tell us here, please let us know,” he said, to which Biden smiled and made an inaudible comment.
Federica Mogherini, vice president of the EU Commission, spoke next and was careful to emphasize the word “vice” before addressing Biden, who again smiled and made a remark not caught by microphones.
This comes on the heels of him meeting Monday in Washington with Romania’s president, attending every presidential event with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his state visit over the weekend, and being the official White House emissary during Pope Francis’ historic trip to the U.S., including seeing him off on Sunday as he headed back to Rome from Philadelphia.
Biden, with his decades of foreign policy experience, has always been one of the most involved vice presidents when it comes to dealing with world leaders. But he seems to be taking on more recently.
After sharing the dais with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi earlier, President Obama turned over maintenance of that key relationship to Biden. Biden sat down with al-Abadi on Friday to preview their Tuesday meeting, and met weeks earlier outside of the official United Nations General Assembly meetings.
According to the White House, “They discussed a range of bilateral issues defining the close and strategic partnership between the United States and Iraq, including the fight against ISIL, security cooperation, [and] political and economic reforms.”
Biden also met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, just a day after Obama chastised Russia for annexing the Crimean Peninsula and aiding separatists.
While Obama broached the armed conflict with Russian President Vladimir Putin personally on Monday, Biden has long taken point in the administration’s relationship with Poroshenko.
Shortly after the duo discussed implementing the Minsk peace agreement that Moscow and separatists have so far flouted, Obama officially authorized Secretary of State John Kerry to give Kiev “$20 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense and military education and training to provide assistance for the government of Ukraine,” the presidential memo read.
It also allows the Federal Aviation Administration to provide up to “$1.5 million in nonlethal commodities and services from any agency of the “federal government “to provide assistance for the government of Ukraine.”
In the evening, with the Taliban’s capture of the city of Kunduz in the headlines, Biden greeted Afghan CEO Abdullah Abdullah.
“Meeting on the one-year anniversary of Afghanistan’s government of national unity, both leaders discussed Afghanistan’s progress and confirmed the importance of urgently addressing Afghanistan’s remaining challenges,” the White House reported after their meeting.
Biden’s first official encounter of the day was with Nicos Anastasiades, president of Cyprus. But he also consulted with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact and other topics, and managed to squeeze in a “walk-and-talk” with Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka.
Tuesday capped a foreign-leader heavy September for Biden.
He kicked off the month by calling Guatemalan President Alejandro Maldonado Sept. 6 to congratulate his government for holding elections and to discuss that nation’s ongoing battle with corruption and reparations for its long, bloody civil war.
On Sept. 14, he spoke with Montenegro’s prime minister, Milo Djukanovic, to support his country’s bid to join NATO. And on Sept. 15, he greeted Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic in Washington and spoke on the phone with Jordanian King Abdullah II.
Biden will start October by addressing the Concordia Summit in New York. The gathering of 800 foreign policy gurus will discuss human trafficking, global food security, youth unemployment and other international issues.
