A ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Hamas and Israel is "on the brink" of being finalized, US President Joe Biden said Monday, as negotiations in the Middle East continue.
"In the war between Israel and Hamas, we're on the brink of a proposal that I laid out in detail months ago finally coming to fruition," Biden said in a farewell speech to the diplomats at the State Department.
Biden said the United States would remain the world's predominant superpower and that China would "never surpass us."
"According to the latest predictions, on China's current course they will never surpass us -- period," Biden said in his speech, adding Washington has "responsibly" managed its complex ties with Beijing and that the relationship "never tipped over into conflict" in his four years as president.
The United States and its allies "can't walk away" from Ukraine, the outgoing President said, as he prepares to step down next week and hand power to Donald Trump.
Hailing US and international support for Kyiv since Moscow’s 2022 invasion, Biden said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin has "failed to achieve any of his strategic objectives" but that "there is more to do, we can't walk away."
Biden issued a warning to climate change skeptics in Donald Trump's incoming administration, saying they are "dead wrong" and that the United States must "win" the clean energy contest against China.
"They don't even believe climate change is real -- I think they come from a different century," he said of climate deniers in Trump's team. "They are dead wrong, it's the single greatest existential threat to humanity," he emphasized.
Biden told American diplomats in his final foreign policy speech that the United States is "winning the worldwide competition" in a new era of global economics and technology.
"The United States is winning the worldwide competition compared to four years ago," he said in a speech at the State Department, adding "America is stronger, our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are weaker, (and) we have not gone to war to make these things happen."
With AFP
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