Biden Hosts Quad Leaders Amid Rising Asian Tensions

U.S. President Joe Biden hosts leaders from Australia, India, and Japan in Delaware to address tensions in Asia's trade-rich waters. The Quad Leaders Summit will discuss security cooperation and countering China. Key challenges include the handover of the U.S. presidency and upcoming leadership changes in Japan.

Tensions brewing in Asia's trade-rich waters top the agenda as U.S. President Joe Biden welcomes leaders from Australia, India, and Japan to his Delaware hometown for a diplomatic push to counter China in the waning months of his presidency.

Biden heads to Wilmington, Delaware, on Friday ahead of the Quad Leaders Summit, where the leaders are expected to speak about conflict between Beijing and its neighbors in the South China Sea who have repeatedly clashed over disputed territory, U.S. officials told Reuters during a briefing. On the agenda is stepped-up security cooperation in the Indian Ocean and progress to track illegal fishing fleets operating in the waters of the Indo-Pacific, most of which are Chinese.

Biden is set to hand over the presidency after a Nov. 5 election that will deliver the White House to his vice president, Kamala Harris, or Republican candidate Donald Trump, who has vowed a confrontational approach with China and voiced skepticism about traditional U.S. alliances.

(With inputs from agencies.)