Biden’s farewell address to UN: ‘Some things are more important than staying in power’
US President Joe Biden has addressed the United Nations for the final time before he leaves the White House, urging world leaders to work together in the face of global turmoil and geopolitical divisions.
Amid the growing conflict in the Middle East, Russia’s war in Ukraine, and lingering tensions over China, Biden warned that the world was at an inflection point and that the test for its leaders was to “make sure that the forces holding us together are stronger than those that are pulling us apart”.
US President Joe Biden addresses the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly.Credit: AP
He also used his speech to defend his foreign policy record, reiterate concerns on climate change, and warn about the dangers of artificial intelligence, which he said had enormous benefits but also “brings profound risks, from deep fakes and disinformation, to novel pathogens and bioweapons”.
“We must make certain that the awesome capabilities of AI will be used to uplift and empower everyday people – not to give dictators more powerful shackles on the human spirt,” he said, in what were his strongest remarks yet on the rapidly growing technology.
“In the years ahead, there may well be no greater test of our leadership than how we deal with AI.”
The speech comes two months after America’s 81-year-old president withdrew his campaign for a second term, paving the way for Vice President Kamala Harris to take on Donald Trump in the race for the White House.
US President Joe Biden used his speech to defend his foreign policy record, reiterate concerns on climate change, and warn about the dangers of AI.Credit: AP
Biden acknowledged the difficulty of that decision, telling world leaders “there’s so much more I want to get done”. But he added: “as much as I love the job, I love my country more”.
“My fellow leaders, let us never forget, some things are more important than staying in power,” he said, in what could have easily been a jab at Republican candidate Trump or other world leaders who refuse to give up their authority.
The high-level gathering of the UN’s 193 members in New York began with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres issuing a dire warning that the global situation had become unsustainable.
Citing wars with no end in sight, climate change, humanitarian disasters and geopolitical divisions, he declared: “We are edging towards the unimaginable – a powder keg that risks engulfing the world.”
“My fellow leaders, let us never forget, some things are more important than staying in power.”
US President Joe Biden
Tensions escalated this week when Israel launched strikes on neighbouring Lebanon, which according to its government killed at least 650 people and injured more than 1800, making it the deadliest day of conflict with Israel in 18 years.
Biden, however, sought to strike a more optimistic tone than the UN boss, citing the various challenges the world had overcome in his 50 years in politics, such as the Vietnam War and the Cold War, as evidence that “things can get better”.
On Gaza, Biden once again called for a two-state solution and a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, even as US officials acknowledge that peace talks remain elusive and a ceasefire likely out of reach before Biden steps down in January.
On Ukraine, he urged supporters to stay the course amid growing fears that a second Trump presidency would end US aid to help the country defend itself from Russia’s aggression.
“We cannot grow weary, we cannot look away,” he said.
And on the Indo-Pacific, he talked up partnerships such as the Quad alliance between the US, Australia, India and Japan, but in a reference to China added: “These partnerships are not against any nation. They are building blocks for free, open, secure a peaceful Indo-Pacific”.
This, however, comes on the heels of the Biden’s final Quad summit on the weekend, in which he was caught on a hot mic warning Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other Indo-Pacific leaders that he believes China’s aggression is a deliberate strategy to test the region at a challenging time for Beijing.
“China continues to behave aggressively, testing us all across the region, and it’s true in the South China Sea, the East China Sea, South China, South Asia and the Taiwan Straits,” he told Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida after journalists were forced to leave the room.
Albanese returned to Australia after the Quad summit, leaving it to Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong to represent the government in New York.
Ahead of her arrival this week, Wong announced that Australia would lead an international initiative to protect aid workers operating in war zones in a bid to prevent a repeat of the Israeli drone strike that killed Australian Zomi Frankcom in Gaza earlier this year.
The 43-year-old aid worker was working for star chef José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen charity when the vehicle they were travelling in was hit by an Israeli drone while delivering aid in Gaza, killing her and six colleagues.
“We want to ensure that their tragic deaths are not in vain and do not continue,” Wong said.
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