During Thursday night’s debate, President Biden told former President Donald J. Trump that America is the “envy of the world.”
After watching his performance, many friends from the United States might not agree.
In Europe and Asia, the tug-of-war between the blustering Trump and the vacillating Biden has worried analysts, and not just about who might win the election in November.
“This whole thing was an absolute disaster,” said Simon Canning, communications manager in Australia. wrote on social media“Total chaos, both on the part of the candidates and the moderators. The United States is in deep, deep trouble.”
Sergey Radchenko, a historian at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, aware“This election is doing more to discredit American democracy than Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping could ever hope for,” referring to the presidents of Russia and China, the United States’ most powerful rivals for global leadership.
“I am concerned about the image that is projected to the outside world,” he continued. “It is not an image of leadership. “It is an image of terminal decay.”
Whoever the president, the United States faces significant global challenges: in Asia, from a rising China and a nuclear North Korea recently strengthened by Putin; in Europe, from Russia’s war against Ukraine; and in the Middle East, where Israel’s war against Hamas threatens to escalate to southern Lebanon and even Iran.
There was little to say about foreign policy in the noisy debate. Trump continued to insist, without explanation, that he could have stopped Putin from invading Ukraine or Hamas from invading Israel, and that he could quickly end both conflicts, again without explaining how, at what cost and for whom.
Biden cited his efforts to rally allies to help Ukraine and confront Russia. “I have 50 other nations around the world to support Ukraine, including Japan and South Korea,” she said.
For some, the debate made a Trump presidency, already considered a strong possibility, seem like a possibility, said François Heisbourg, a French analyst. “So on all issues, the debate is a confirmation of European concerns, and some of them have already become embedded in people’s thinking.”
“On Ukraine, people hear Trump saying he wants to cut aid to Ukraine, so that will come to the forefront of the debate,” he said, along with Trump’s stated fondness for Putin as a strong leader.
As for Israel and Gaza, however, “I’m not sure that’s going to make a big difference,” Heisbourg said. “You can’t move the embassy to Jerusalem twice.”
As for the state of American democracy, Heisbourg sighed. “This is not a new issue,” he said. “It is rather a confirmation of what is happening, also in France.”
Adding to existing concerns about the unpredictable Trump, which the debate only confirmed, is new anxiety about Biden’s ability to govern. One of the harshest assessments came from Radoslaw Sikorski, Polish foreign minister. In a social media post, he He compared Mr. Biden to Marcus Aureliusthe Roman emperor who “ruined his succession by passing the baton to his irresponsible son Commodus, whose disastrous rule began the decline of Rome.”
“It’s important to manage your own journey until the end,” Sikorski added.
The headline of the French newspaper Le Monde read: “The shipwreck of Joe Biden in the televised debate against Donald Trump.” The president, the newspaper continued, is “a shadow of the Joe Biden who faced Donald Trump in the 2020 election.”
American presidents drive a very big truck, followed by a large number of other countries, said Daniela Schwarzer, an executive board member of the Bertelsmann Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank. “And over the next four years, “It takes a strong force.” American president and a reliable partner for Europe, someone who can stand firm in a world where there will be more conflicts everywhere,” she said.
In Ukraine, the clamor over the debate echoed on Friday.
Referring to Mr. Biden, Bogdan Butkevych, a popular radio host, wrote on social media: “His main task was to convince voters of his energy and willingness to govern.” But he added: “He couldn’t do it. Consequently, the chances of him being replaced by another Democratic candidate increase.”
Some found some comfort in Trump saying he did not find it acceptable for the Kremlin to keep the lands occupied.
In that sense, The Kyiv Independent, a Ukrainian media outlet, published a headline about the debate that read: “Trump rejects Putin’s peace terms as Biden makes Democrats nervous.”
Elsewhere, countries hoping the United States could balance a rising China and deter North Korea’s nuclear ambitions have spent the past four years trying to rebuild ties with Washington after Trump’s first term deeply shook alliances. in the region. Thursday night’s debate immediately resurfaced with serious questions about how U.S. policy could affect stability across Asia.
Chan Heng Chee, who was Singapore’s ambassador to the United States between 1996 and 2012, said the quality of the debates had deteriorated compared to previous ones. Biden’s disjointed performance and Trump’s repeated attacks and factual inaccuracies unsettled those who rely on the United States to act as a trusted global partner.
“Now everyone is looking at images,” Chan said. “Do candidates look capable of doing the job or is age an issue? Facts no longer matter and civility has completely disappeared.”
In Japan and South Korea, analysts detected a shift in the political winds toward Trump, raising fresh questions about Biden’s age and ability to project strength.
“It was clearly a victory for Trump and a nail in the coffin for the Biden campaign,” said Lee Byong-chul, a professor at the Institute of Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University in Seoul.
“We must now prepare for a second Trump administration,” he added.
In Japan, a key U.S. ally in Asia, officials have long been adamant that they are happy to work with whomever the U.S. chooses, but Trump’s comments during the debate about his desire not to spend money on allies are likely to revive concerns about his approach to international relations, which is transactional rather than enduring.
“I think Japanese policymakers are thinking, ‘Okay, it’s very likely that it’s Trump, so we have to consolidate institutional ties as much as possible so that he can’t undo them,’” said Koichi Nakano, a political scientist at Sophia University. in Tokyo. “That’s like tying yourself to a mast that may sink very soon, so it’s a false illusion of security.”
India, traditionally averse to sudden changes and slow on any foreign policy shifts, has worked in recent years to overcome a long history of mistrust to expand military and trade ties with Washington. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi enjoyed a close bond with Trump during his presidency, the Indian establishment has seen in Biden a steady hand who understands how alliances work and how geopolitical risk can be contained and mitigated.
Dr. Tara Kartha, a former senior official in India’s National Security Council, said the state of the US political leadership worried New Delhi. She noted that Trump is unpredictable and could easily change his position, such as changing his current hardline approach toward China and patching things up if Beijing offers him better terms for a trade deal. That uncertainty makes calculations difficult for India, she added, which shares a border with China and a long rivalry with Beijing.
“Now we are covering our positions with China, we are not going to go beyond a point precisely because of that,” he said. “Because we’re not really sure what’s going to happen to the United States.”
In China, the presidential debate was a top topic on the social media platform Weibo. Official Chinese media mostly approached it seriously, reporting on each candidate’s comments (and lack of a handshake) without adding too much commentary.
But in online comments, some users compared Trump’s red tie to a communist red bandana, and some social media commentators jokingly called Trump a “nation builder” because of how his leadership could accelerate China’s global rise.
Social media merriment aside, Shen Dingli, a Shanghai-based international relations expert, said the debate had only reinforced something the Chinese government had long thought: No matter who the next president is, U.S. policy toward China will likely only get tougher.
“I think the Chinese leaders are under no illusions,” he said.
What became clear after Thursday’s debate was that few in the region were optimistic about the electoral options in the United States.
Kasit Piromya, Thailand’s foreign minister from 2008 to 2011 and a former ambassador to the United States, lamented the state of American policy.
“Where are the good ones? Where are the brave?” Kasit asked, adding that it is now up to Southeast Asian countries to have their own vision of foreign policy.
“Why should I wait for Trump to be bad? He should be able to organize me and maybe work with other friends,” he said.
The report was contributed by Damian Cave, Sui-Lee Wee, Choe Sang-Hun, Vivian Wang, Camille Elemia, Mujib Mashal, Ségolène Le Stradic and Marc Santora.