Biden meeting with Indo-Pacific leaders at G7 summit

HIROSHIMA, Japan (AP) — President Joe Biden sought Saturday to rally regional cooperation against China on the margins of the Group of Seven summit w hile confronting a stalemate in Washington over how to ensure the U.S. avoids default.

Hoping to avert an outcome that would rattle the global economy and prove to be a boon to Beijing, Biden opened his third day in Japan at the annual meeting of the world’s most powerful democracies with a staff briefing on the latest fits and starts in talks over how to raise the federal debt limit.

The president on Saturday was also squeezing in meetings aimed at challenging China’s buildout across the Indo-Pacific, including with the so-called Quad partnership of the U.S., Australia, Japan and India.

The Quad members originally had been scheduled to meet in Sydney next week, but rescheduled for the sidelines of the G7 to allow Biden to return to Washington earlier on Sunday in hopes of finalizing a deal to increase the debt ceiling before the U.S. runs out of cash to pay its bills.

The shortened trip has reinforced a fundamental tension shaping Biden’s presidency: As he has tried to signal to the world that the U.S. is reclaiming the mantle of global leadership, at key moments, domestic dramas keep getting in the way.

The president has largely stayed out of the public eye at the summit, forgoing big public statements and leaving Friday’s leader dinner early. He's been spending time inste...