TheUnited Stateswill take a far more civil and consensus-driven approach to international relations underJoe Biden’s presidency, but while the “eccentric” and “destabilising” anti-China rhetoric will be gone, analysts say, his administration is likely to be as tough as President Donald Trump’s on issues such as theSouth China Sea.
“Given Biden’s background [as a veteran lawmaker], we will see more heads brought to bear on the problems worldwide,” said Professor Jay Batongbacal, director of the University of the Philippines Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea, at a virtual forum on Monday organised by the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of the Philippines.
.Southeast Asia specialist Carl Thayer, also speaking at the event, said there would be less pressure on regional states to take sides amid theUS-China tensions