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President Joe Biden started his four-day trip to Asia in Seoul, visiting a Samsung semiconductor plant, and greeted in virtual rapture by South Korea’s new president, Yoon Suk Yeol.

The main news to come is already well-flagged: Biden will formally launch the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework in Tokyo — a loose substitute for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal then-President Donald Trump withdrew from — and meet with fellow leaders of the Quad (India, Japan and Australia).

WHY BEIJING IS FREAKING OUT AT BIDEN’S ASIA TRIP

First: Chinese President Xi Jinping won’t travel and typically won’t often accept foreign leaders as guests (the Beijing Winter Olympics were an exception). So Biden running around what Xi considers as his backyard is difficult for Xi to match, and therefore infuriating.

Beijing reactions: “China opposes the creation of block-antagonism or separatist confrontation in the Asia-Pacific region,” Liu Pengyu, China’s Washington-based spokesperson told POLITICO's Phelim Kine. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, in a Wednesday phone call with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, railed against “rampant” U.S.-Japan efforts “to confront China,” a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said.

Also Wednesday, Yang Jiechi, China’s top diplomat, Jake Sullivan to complain","_id":"00000180-e19b-d040-ad9f-eb9b81360000","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}">phoned national security adviser Jake Sullivan to complain that “the U.S. side has taken a series of wrong words and actions to interfere in China's internal affairs and harm China's interests,” Xinhua reported.

Quinting the Quad. Biden’s trip will climax with a meeting of the leaders of the Quad, and South Korea’s Yoon will try to win support for South Korean membership in the Quad. That effort, even if it falls short of membership, may help Biden’s objective of edging Tokyo and Seoul closer together (the two capitals have notoriously tense relations).

Engaging India: The Biden administration is seeking to displace Moscow's role as New Delhi’s largest weapons supplier, with a recent arms sale to India valued up to $500 million — which in arms terms, is a drop in the ocean. The president will likely have better opportunities to capitalize on India-China souring relations. “For India … [the] Quad is essentially 'political deterrence’ against China, but not a 'tactical weapon,’” said Shanghai University’s Rajiv Ranjan.

UKRAINE FRONTS

AMERICAN VOICES PUSH FOR UKRAINE CONCESSIONS — UKRAINIANS REJECT THAT: In an editorial titled "What Is America’s Strategy in Ukraine?" The New York Times insists “A decisive military victory for Ukraine over Russia, in which Ukraine regains all the territory Russia has seized since 2014, is not a realistic goal.”

Global Insider met with a high-level group of Ukrainian women Thursday — members of Parliament, the head of the Ukraine Investment Council, anti-corruption activists and think tank leaders, among them. There wasn’t a single person who thought Ukraine should concede territory.

This high-level group is also clear about who they think their problem is in the administration: It’s not the Pentagon or State Department, or Congress pressuring the White House to negotiate. It’s Sullivan they worry about: seeing Sullivan as willing to negotiate with Moscow to allow the U.S. to return to worrying about China.

“I’m not afraid that Ukrainian forces or people would surrender. (For them) it’s not about territory or some concessions, it’s about the physical consequences of concessions: arrest, disappearance, death,” said Hanna Shelest, director of security programs at Foreign Policy Council “Ukrainian Prism.”

“The suppression is stronger in territory Russia has held (since 2014). Men are afraid to even go out on the street,” Shelest said, adding “in the last negotiations in Istanbul there was no longer a discussion by Ukraine about returning to the situation of Feb. 24. The position of the leadership has changed.”

“If, for example, our government said tomorrow ‘let’s give up some territory,’ the Ukrainian people would throw them out and continue fighting on the local level,” said Olena Davlikanova, from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation Ukraine.

RISK IN NOT GIVING LONG-RANGE WEAPONS: As Congress and the White House debate whether to offer Ukraine longer-range weapons, the visiting Ukrainians said they are convinced that Russia’s protocols for deploying tactical nuclear weapons (as opposed to strategic nukes) involve too many steps, and carry too high a chance of officers refusing to carry out the orders, that Putin would never invoke them in this conflict.

Tetiana Shevchuk, from Ukraine’s Anti-Corruption Action Center, went as far as to label as “bullshit” claims that delivering heavy weapons to Ukraine would increase the chance of nuclear conflict. She added: “Look at Mariupol: It's already basically nuked. The level of tactical destruction is equivalent to the use of tactical nukes, minus the radiation pollution. But there is other terrible chemical pollution from the destroyed factories.”

BRAND MANAGEMENT MESS: The Atlantic Council last week awarded Claudio Descalzi, CEO of Italian energy giant Eni, a "distinguished leadership" award at a black-tie gala, for "leading an example-setting effort to wean Italy off Russian gas." Fast-forward a week and Eni, which is 32 percent owned by the Italian state, has opened a second rubles account for Russian gas payments. After the European Commission said Tuesday that opening the account "goes beyond what we said was allowed," the executive’s Economy Commissioner, Paolo Gentiloni, an Italian, said the account “does not constitute a violation of sanctions.”

ICYMI — VIDEO: Former President George W. Bush: “The decision of one man to launch a wholly unjustified and brutal invasion of Iraq. I mean of Ukraine.”

AUSTRALIAN ELECTION POSTCARD

Around one-third of Australian voters have cast ballots during early voting in the country’s federal election, which wraps up Saturday. Unlike other major democracies, voting in Australia is compulsory and voters are required to prioritize every candidate on the ballot, a system known as preferential voting.

The center-left Labor is hoping to end nine years of conservative rule.

What the polls say: The race has tightened to a virtual dead heat in the final week of campaigning. Accounting for the full preferences of voters, the Labor Party leads the ruling Liberal coalition 51 to 49 (the margin of error in Australian polls is just 2 percent) — mirroring the polls in the 2019 campaign. Australia’s social democrats ended up losing that election because they couldn’t convert their overall support into enough votes in the country’s swing districts.

Prime Minister candidates: Prime Minister Scott Morrison is facing off against the leader of the Labor’s “Hard Left” faction, Anthony Albanese. What the two men share is a reputation for saying or doing anything to obtain power. A range of Morrison’s counterparts — from his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull to French President Emmanuel Macron — accuse him of naked lies. While Albanese’s ideological roots resemble those of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), he has an obsessive eye on victory, believing ideology is worth nothing if you don’t hold power. Morrison leads Albanese as preferred prime minister by an average 40 percent to 36 percent.

State of Australia: The country is in a years-long bitter dispute with Beijing, its top trading partner, which views Canberra as increasingly impertinent after decades of compliant relations. The economy is back to growth (Australia has been in recession for only one year since 1991) and unemployment is down to 3.9 percent — the lowest level since 1974 — but Australia suffers from a severe housing shortage that has driven home prices to New York City levels in many cities.

Climate and cost of living issues have been the most divisive themes of the campaign. Labor wants to spend more abating emissions and raising wages. The government has attempted to showcase its national security credentials, but come in for criticism from intelligence communities for attempting to politicize national security in its efforts to label Labor as weak on China.

Where the parties stand on key issues","link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/eight-key-issues-and-where-the-parties-stand-20220405-p5ab3y.html","_id":"00000180-eb7f-d243-a1c9-eb7ff87d0001","_type":"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_id":"00000180-eb7f-d243-a1c9-eb7ff87d0002","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}">Where the parties stand on key issues.

The billionaires shaping Australian politics: Maddison Connaughton looks at two of Australia’s wealthiest men pulling strings of political candidates, Clive Palmer (mining) and Simon Holmes à Court (mining). It doesn’t stop there: tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes and Andrew Forrest (another mining billionaire) are increasingly throwing their political weight around with environment-themed investments designed to change the direction of Australia’s abysmal carbon emissions track record.

U.S. CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION ON BREXIT

A high-level delegation of U.S. members of Congress touched down in Brussels on Thursday, kicking off a week-long visit that includes stops in London, Dublin and Belfast examining Britain’s threat to change the Brexit-linked Northern Ireland Protocol.

Delegation leader Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), head of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, who was closely involved in 1990s Good Friday Agreement negotiations, told my Brussels Playbook colleagues: “I don’t think that Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement and the elections in the North [of Ireland] ought to be held hostage by a disagreement the U.K. has with the European Union.” He promised to judge the U.K. by its actions, rather than its words.

Neal rejected suggestions from London that the Protocol had to change to ensure a Northern Ireland government that includes the anti-Protocol Democratic Unionist Party, which lost Northern Ireland’s recent election to the pro-Protocol Sinn Fein. Only “about 7 percent of people cast their vote based upon the protocol,” Neal said.

“The U.S. ultimately wants a trade deal with the U.K. — not, however, at the expense of eradicating the Good Friday Agreement which America is a co-guarantor of,” Neal said. He added he would like to see a trade deal with the EU similar to the U.S. deal with Canada and Mexico.

NEW PODCAST EPISODE — TRADEWINDS

The era of free-wheeling globalization is over: That makes life tough for this week’s guests: Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the British Trade Secretary charged with delivering her country’s “Global Britain” policy, and Singapore Trade Minister Gan Kim Yong, who is coping with the rise of his massive neighbor, China.

NO PODCAST NEXT WEEK: The podcast will take a break from next week. But don’t worry — we’ll be serving you with a daily podcast from the World Economic Forum in Davos instead.

You can sign up for that podcast feed here, and I’ll provide daily links in Global Insider.

HUMAN RESOURCES LEADERS IN CENTER OF ESG DEBATES: The Conference Board interviewed 100 human capital leaders at multinational companies for the report, The CHRO’s Role in Navigating the Future of Work","link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://www.conference-board.org/topics/future-of-work/CHRO-voices-navigating-future-of-work","_id":"00000180-eb7f-d243-a1c9-eb7ff8810002","_type":"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_id":"00000180-eb7f-d243-a1c9-eb7ff8810003","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}">The CHRO’s Role in Navigating the Future of Work. Publishing staff metrics (for example, on diversity) is becoming common. And as social debates become pervasive in workplaces, the role of HR leaders is broadening. It’s not less about administration (performed by tech instead) and more about company cohesion and culture in a hybrid work environment.

POMPEO JOINS HUDSON INSTITUTE’S NEW CHINA CENTER: This China Center will be led by Miles Yu","link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://hudsoninstitute.cmail19.com/t/i-l-qlridhl-tjlydulrkr-y/","_id":"00000180-eb7f-d243-a1c9-eb7ff8840002","_type":"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_id":"00000180-eb7f-d243-a1c9-eb7ff8840003","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}">Miles Yu, who previously served as the senior China policy and planning adviser at the State Department. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo","link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://hudsoninstitute.cmail19.com/t/i-l-qlridhl-tjlydulrkr-j/","_id":"00000180-eb7f-d243-a1c9-eb7ff8840004","_type":"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_id":"00000180-eb7f-d243-a1c9-eb7ff8840005","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}">Mike Pompeo will serve as the chair of the Center’s advisory board. “Hudson was founded to tackle existential threats to America and its allies and the greatest threat today originates from the Chinese Communist Party,” said Hudson President and CEO John P. Walters","link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://hudsoninstitute.cmail19.com/t/i-l-qlridhl-tjlydulrkr-h/","_id":"00000180-eb7f-d243-a1c9-eb7ff8840006","_type":"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_id":"00000180-eb7f-d243-a1c9-eb7ff8840007","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}">John P. Walters.

IS DAVOS WORTH IT?

Global Insider will come to you next week from the World Economic Forum in Davos. The buzzwords are already flying: from “Defining and building an open and inclusive metaverse” to that old chestnut, harnessing the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.” As usual for Davos, there is a lot of optimism circulating in an otherwise pessimistic world. After all, why be pessimistic if you’re a billionaire?

Questions on my mind as I board my plane to Switzerland:

— Has WEF been able to shift the demographics of its participants (very rich, very male)?

— What can WEF do to spread investment in the themes it most cares about, such as climate, beyond rich countries?

— Can WEF broker any food security agreements in the wake of Russia/Ukraine-linked food supply disruptions?

— Will Gwen Stefani get on the piano at the town’s Piano Bar on Wednesday night, when she headlines a party for tech company Cloudflare?

Why the defeat of a Donald Trump ally in an Idaho primary works out just fine for Trump","link":{"target":"NEW","attributes":[],"url":"https://newsitems.substack.com/p/one-of-us?utm_source=email&s=r","_id":"00000180-eb7f-d243-a1c9-eb7ff8890000","_type":"33ac701a-72c1-316a-a3a5-13918cf384df"},"_id":"00000180-eb7f-d243-a1c9-eb7ff8890001","_type":"02ec1f82-5e56-3b8c-af6e-6fc7c8772266"}">works out just fine for Trump, by John Ellis.

Thanks to editor John Yearwood, Phelim Kine, Mark Scott and producer Hannah Farrow.

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