LONDON, Jul 10 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden will seek to deepen his relations with King Charles and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during separate meetings on Monday in which Ukraine and climate change are expected to dominate the diary.
Biden landed in London on Sunday night to kick off a three-nation trip that will feature a NATO summit in Lithuania aimed at showing solidarity with Ukraine in its fight against Russia without yet accepting Kiev as a member of the defense alliance.
On Monday at Windsor Castle, the 80-year-old president and the 74-year-old king will discuss how to help boost private investment to combat climate change, a threat both leaders say is existential.
“The president has great respect for the king’s commitment to the climate issue in particular. He has been a clear voice on this issue,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday.
Sullivan said Biden hopes to deepen his personal relationship with King Charles. She said the two leaders, who don’t know each other well, had a phone conversation earlier this year that she described as “incredibly warm.”
Biden will also travel to 10 Downing Street on Monday for a low-key meeting with Sunak, his fifth in as many months. Sullivan said the visit is more of a continuation of a long conversation than a formal meeting. It will mark Biden’s first visit to Downing Street as president.
Sullivan said the two leaders will share notes ahead of the NATO summit in Lithuania, which begins Tuesday and will be dominated by the Ukraine crisis, which has brought the alliance closer.
Ahead of the trip, Biden urged caution for now about Ukraine’s push to join NATO, saying the alliance could be drawn into war with Russia because of NATO’s mutual defense pact.
“I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO on whether or not to include Ukraine in the NATO family now, at this time, in the middle of a war,” Biden said in a CNN interview that aired on Sunday.
Biden’s trip comes days after he agreed to send controversial US cluster munitions to Ukraine
Cluster munitions are banned by more than 100 countries, including the UK, due to their threat to civilian populations, as they typically release large numbers of smaller mini-bombs that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area.
Russia, Ukraine and the United States have not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the production, stockpiling, use and transfer of weapons.
“I think you find Prime Minister Sunak and President Biden on the same page strategically on Ukraine, in tune with the big picture of what we’re trying to achieve, and as united as ever,” Sullivan said Sunday.
Reporting by Steve Holland and Jarrett Renshaw; Edited by Leslie Adler
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