Biden leaves behind legacy of a divided world

US President Joe Biden's foreign policy speech at the State Department on Monday reflects his typical style of self-congratulation — evident in almost everything he has said, from official remarks to postings on social media X (formerly Twitter), during the past years.

Such excessive bragging has exposed his extreme anxiety. A Gallup poll released on Tuesday showed that most Americans think the US has lost ground during the last four years in areas ranging from federal debt, immigration, crime control, the rich-poor gap and the economy to the US' position in the world.

Biden's approval rating was only 39 percent in December, showing a steady decline from his first days in office in 2021, according to Gallup.

An AP-NORC poll unveiled on Jan 10 showed that 47 percent Americans rated Biden's presidency as "poor or terrible" while 28 percent graded him "average". Only 25 percent said his term was "good or great".

Right after his foreign policy speech, the two foreign policy experts CNN anchor Isa Soares invited to comment lambasted Biden's foreign policy legacy.

Fawaz Gerges, a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science, said Biden "will be remembered as one of the worst presidents in foreign policy: na?ve, gullible, morally senile".Gerges, a Lebanese-American, held Biden responsible for forcing the world to face "one of the most dangerous moments" since the end of World War II. He said Biden has played a major role in "militarizing the world" and termed the Israel-Palestine conflict "Biden's war".

Ravi Agrawal, editor of the Foreign Policy magazine, agreed with Gerges, lamenting that the US "has lost enormous amount of soft power and public opinion" during the last four years.

To me, Biden's policy over the Gaza crisis cancels out any foreign policy achievements he may have made. The fact that he has never mentioned the number of Palestinians killed by US-supplied weapons has shocked the entire world, including many in his Democratic Party. It is also seen as a reason for Democrats' loss in the 2024 presidential election.

A temporary cease-fire deal in Gaza, which was reached on Wednesday, will not change Biden's legacy. Many experts have credited incoming US president Donald Trump for the breakthrough.

The Biden presidency started with the chaotic withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan only to leave the country to the Taliban 20 years after the US launched a full-scale invasion of Afghanistan to topple the Taliban government.

Biden praised himself for the role the US has played in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. However, the fact that the US and its NATO allies have failed to subdue Russia after nearly three years of proxy war is simply a failure of the US. That NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told the European Parliament on Monday that Ukraine cannot "at this moment negotiate from a position of strength" is proof that the conflict is not going in the US-NATO's favor.

Biden claimed that he has made US allies stronger. But apart from peddling more US arms to the allies, Biden has not made the EU's economy stronger. The fact is, the EU now lags further behind in economy and technology from the US.

In the Asia-Pacific region, the much-touted "Indo-Pacific Economic Framework" the US launched with 13 other economies in 2022 has barely achieved anything.

Biden has indeed succeeded in coercing allies, from the Netherlands to Japan to the Republic of Korea, to restrict the exports of semiconductors and chip-making equipment to China, but the move has inflicted colossal damage on those countries and their companies as well as many US tech firms.

In his Feb 4, 2021, foreign policy speech at the State Department, Biden had told the world that "America is back". He has constantly trashed his predecessor Trump during the last four years. But with Trump's second term starting on Jan 20, Biden's words will fade quickly.

Biden said on Monday that he is leaving Trump "with a very strong hand to play". But what he is leaving behind is a world that is the most divided and chaotic in decades and more closer to a third world war and even a nuclear war.

The author is chief of China Daily EU Bureau based in Brussels.