Retiring President Biden will require the leaders of Australia, India and Japan to schlep to Delaware for the annual four-nation “Quad” summit next week — as the 81-year-old spends yet another weekend at home in Wilmington.
The summit will be held Sept. 21 near Biden’s weekend White House in America’s 470th most-populous city, a relative desert of cultural and culinary attractions 120 miles northeast of the nation’s capital.
Biden picked his hometown as a meeting site to show how “deep” his bonds are with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India and Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the White House insisted in a statement.
Biden already has visited Wilmington 21 times this year — spending his time lunching at a nearby golf course, shopping at a Jos. A. Bank retail store and attending church — and is expected to habitually return on weekends for the remainder of his presidency, which ends Jan. 20.
“President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will host the fourth in-person Quad Leaders Summit in Wilmington, Delaware, on Saturday, September 21,” the White House said.
“This will be President Biden’s first time hosting foreign leaders in Wilmington as president — a reflection of his deep personal relationships with each of the Quad Leaders, and the importance of the Quad to all of our countries.”
The summit follows prior annual meetups at the White House and in Tokyo and Hiroshima, Japan. The next Quad gathering in 2025 will be hosted by India, with a new president representing the US.
The White House said the leaders — united by a desire to contain China’s influence — will focus on “bolstering the strategic convergence among our countries, advancing our shared vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, and delivering concrete benefits for partners in the Indo-Pacific in key areas.”
The areas of discussion will include “health security, natural disaster response, maritime security, high-quality infrastructure, critical and emerging technology, climate and clean energy, and cybersecurity,” according to the statement.
Biden ended his campaign for a second term on July 21 following a mutiny by Democratic leaders concerned about his apparent cognitive decline.
Although Biden initially claimed he would end his term strong, he has instead spent much of his time on vacation.
The president requires multiple motorcades, helicopters and sometimes Air Force One flights to spend his weekends in Wilmington — drawing mutterings about the vast volume of greenhouse gases expelled in between Biden’s claims of a “climate crisis” caused by fossil fuel use.
Journalists and security personnel spend most of their time in the First State idling outside Biden’s suburban home and following him on errands.
