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US President Joe Biden visits Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington on Monday to receive a briefing on the Atlantic hurricane season. (EPA/Yonhap News)

The summit between South Korean President Moon Jae-in and US President Joe Biden that concluded Friday offered an illustration of Biden’s brand of diplomacy four months into his term.

In a sense, summit diplomacy is providing him with an opportunity to truly show the foreign affairs and national security expertise and beliefs that he established over a 36-year history in the Senate — including four years as its Foreign Relations Committee chair — and eight years as US vice president.

To begin with, the South Korea-US summit showed Biden’s skill at guiding other parties in his direction without twisting their arm.

In contrast with predecessor Donald Trump’s heavy-handed approach of attempting to bully allies into paying more, Biden has elevated the two sides’ level of integration through an approach that shows respect for allies as equal partners — while also sharing rights and responsibilities accordingly.

In the latest summit, Biden recognized South Korea as a global partner in regional security, economic matters and climate change, accepting its independent role while expressing support for inter-Korean dialogue, engagement and cooperation.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in ended up taking a step further in Washington’s direction in the strategic rivalry between the US and China, agreeing with Biden on the “importance of preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”

Another hallmark of Biden’s diplomatic approach is how he considers the individual natures of allies. A US-Japan Joint Statement issued on April 16 mentioned China as a country four times and included aggressive wording about the two leaders “oppos[ing] any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the East China Sea.”

But the South Korea-US Joint Statement did not mention China as a country at all and used more muted language about “respect for international law.” In effect, Biden stuck to what he could reasonably demand from Seoul and Tokyo.

Miyeon Oh, Asia Security Initiative director for the Washington think tank Atlantic Council, said, “There is a contrast with Trump in terms of [Biden’s] approach of showing thought and consideration for the situation that the other country faces, especially when it comes to allies.”

Also reaffirmed at the summit was Biden’s emphasis on causes such as democracy, human rights, and restoring alliances and multilateralism.

The agreement by the US to provide COVID-19 vaccines to 550,000 South Korean troops was the result of identifying the South Korea-US alliance as a basis for reaching a compromise between Seoul’s request for vaccines and concerns about international equity.

But Biden’s diplomatic approach is not only about showing goodwill for the other side. Biden himself has spoken of a “foreign policy for the middle class,” and while his efforts have helped to resolve some thorny issues, they also ultimately serve to benefit Americans practically.

Remarking on South Korean businesses’ announcement of plans to invest US$ 39.4 billion in the US, Oh explained, “They established a connection between diplomacy and the President Biden’s domestic slogan about ‘building back better.’”

Indeed, Biden is not as mild as his smile might suggest. He has continued to follow a hard line on China and Russia, and he shows signs of putting the achievement of his aims ahead of values such as human rights when needed.

Last month, he recognized the massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century as a “genocide” in the face of objections from Turkey. He announced plans to finish withdrawing all US troops from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 despite objections from the military.

With the recent clashing between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, he has focused on mediating a stop to hostilities without withdrawing support for Israel – despite facing criticisms from within his own Democracy Party for ignoring the human rights of Palestinians.

“Biden isn’t the ‘iron fist in a velvet glove’ type. He is stubborn on the surface too, he has clear thoughts on things, and when he says he’ll do something, he does it,” said a foreign affairs expert in Washington.

This diplomatic style is not exclusive to Biden. It’s backed up by skilled diplomatic experts like US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Frank Aum, a senior expert at the US Institute of Peace, said that everything Biden does is carefully coordinated and pragmatic. Even when it comes to China, Biden’s team is cautious when talking about cooperation, antagonism and competition in appropriate areas, he noted.

Within Washington, Biden is seen by many as “crafty.”

“President Biden talks about democracy and human rights, but some are speculating that once dialogue actually begins between North Korea and the US, he’s going to approach dialogue pragmatically rather than getting hung up on values,” said one source in the diplomatic world.

By Hwang Joon-bum, Washington correspondent

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]