US President Joe Biden on Tuesday detailed his plans for leading the United States into a new era focused on diplomacy rather than American military power. In his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly since taking office, Biden called the next 10 years a "decisive decade for our world" that will determine the global community's future. The President said the world stands at an "inflection point in history," arguing that the way the global community responds to pressing challenges like the climate crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic will "reverberate for generations yet to come." He said those challenges must be tackled with technological innovation and global cooperation, not war. "We've ended 20 years of conflict in Afghanistan, and as we close this period of relentless war, we're opening a new era of relentless diplomacy, of using the power of our development aid to invest in new ways of lifting people up around the world, of renewing and defending democracy, of proving that no matter how challenging or how complex the problem we're going to face, government by and for the people is still the best way to deliver for all of our people," Biden said. Without naming China, Biden said the US does not want a new Cold War with the most populous country in the world, instead looking to "compete vigorously" with the world's autocracies. He said the US is turning its focus to the Indo-Pacific region and is "fixing our eyes on devoting our resources to the challenges that hold the keys to our collective future." "US military power must be our tool of last resort, not our first and should not be used as an answer to every problem we see around the world," Biden said. "Indeed, today many of our greatest concerns cannot be solved or even addressed through the force of arms. Bombs and bullets cannot defend against COVID-19 or its future variants." The President said that, despite some apprehension from its allies, the US was committed to working with partners around the world to collectively tackle these challenges and stressed the importance of working within the framework of multilateral institutions like the United Nations. "It is a fundamental truth of the 21st century that within each of our countries and as a global community that our own success is bound up in others succeeding as well. To deliver for our own people we must also engage deeply with the rest of the world," Biden said.
