U.S. President Joe Biden said relations with the U.K are “rock solid” as he visited 10 Downing Street in London to meet with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of Tuesday’s NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
“We’ve got a lot to talk about. I think we’re doing well. We’re moving along in a way that’s positive,” said Biden.
“Great for us to carry on our conversations, which we were having just a month or so ago, it feels like, in the White House, where we signed the Atlantic Declaration,” said Sunak, referring to the June agreement to cooperate on advanced technologies, clean energy, and critical minerals to counter China’s clout around the world.
Biden administration officials underscore that this is the leaders’ sixth visit in six months. However, the meeting is overshadowed by Washington’s recent announcement that it will send cluster munitions to Ukraine, despite the bombs being banned by 123 nations, including Britain, for their indiscriminate killing capability.
Sunak has not publicly backed the move, noting on Saturday that the U.K. is a “signatory to a convention which prohibits the production or use of cluster munitions and discourages their use.”
“We will continue to do our part to support Ukraine against Russia’s illegal and unprovoked invasion, but we’ve done that by providing heavy battle tanks and most recently long-range weapons, and hopefully all countries can continue to support Ukraine,” he told reporters.
Sunak was fulfilling “his legal obligation” under the Convention on Cluster Munitions, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.
He pushed back against the notion that the decision to send cluster munitions is creating division with the alliance.
“I think you will find Prime Minister Sunak and President Biden on the same page strategically on Ukraine, in lockstep on the bigger picture of what we’re trying to accomplish, and as united as ever both in this conflict and writ large,” he said.
Security guarantees for Kyiv
Biden and Sunak are also focused on finding the right formula to provide long-term security guarantees for Kyiv outside of the NATO framework as Kyiv moves toward membership. Biden has said he does not believe Ukraine is ready to join the alliance, citing needed reforms and the danger of dragging NATO into a direct conflict with Russia.
Sunak meanwhile appeared to be more forward leaning on membership for Ukraine, partly because he knows where Biden stands, said Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the U.S. and Americas program at Chatham House, a London-based research group.
“It’s not that there isn’t integrity to what Britain’s doing, but there is protection,” she told VOA. “You can say everything you want to say about offering membership to NATO to Ukraine more quickly but you know that you have the U.S. there who is going to ensure that certain conditions are met first.”
Reviewing preparations for the Vilnius summit, Biden and Sunak “reaffirmed their steadfast support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s ongoing aggression.
Later Monday, Biden headed to Vilnius for the two-day gathering with allied leaders that will focus on Ukraine, as well as strengthening and enlarging the alliance.
NATO leaders are meeting amid potential instability in Russia following an attempted mutiny by Wagner mercenary group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin. His troops have been invited to set up camp in Belarus, which shares a border with Lithuania.
Monarch meeting on climate
Following his meeting with Sunak, Biden headed to Windsor Castle to meet with King Charles, to discuss boosting private investment for developing nations to combat climate change. Biden did not attend the monarch’s coronation in May.
British Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Grant Shapps, Biden’s special climate envoy John Kerry, as well as top financiers and philanthropists attended the meeting.
“They represent literally trillions of dollars either investment or assets under management or assets owned, and they are making decisions every single day about how to accelerate this transition,” Kerry said.
Northern Ireland
Biden and Sunak also reviewed developments in Northern Ireland, where tensions remain over post-Brexit trade rules that have torn apart the region’s unity government.
In April, Biden, who is fiercely proud of his Irish heritage, traveled to Belfast to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the U.S.-brokered Good Friday peace accord.
During a campaign fundraising event in May, Biden’s blunt comments triggered criticism from some British politicians. Biden said he traveled to Northern Ireland “to make sure the Brits didn’t screw around” with the region’s peace process and “Northern Ireland didn’t walk away from their commitments.”
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