NATO summit updates: Biden reaffirms commitment to stay in US race

Thank you for joining us for our coverage of the NATO summit!

To learn more about US President Joe Biden’s closing news conference, please check out our coverage here.

We also have a breakdown of how much NATO members spend on the alliance – and an analysis of why NATO and China are clashing over Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

You can also learn more about how Israel’s war in Gaza factored into the day’s conferences and negotiations here.

Here is a quick recap of Al Jazeera’s coverage of the final day of the 75th NATO summit in Washington, DC.

• US President Joe Biden concluded the summit with a highly anticipated news conference, where he reaffirmed his commitment to staying in the US presidential race – despite several vocal flubs throughout the day.
• In his final NATO summit, outgoing Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg reaffirmed Ukraine’s “irreversible path to membership” and rallied support for the country’s continued attempts to repel a full-scale Russian invasion.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, for his part, called for “quick steps to lift all limitations for our Ukrainian soldiers”, including allowing US weapons to strike within Russia.
• NATO members met with partners in the Asia Pacific – including South Korea, Australia and Japan – to discuss China, which Stoltenberg described as a “decisive enabler of Russia’s war against Ukraine”.

The final day of the NATO summit in Washington, DC, was in many ways leading up to a single, high-profile event: a news conference where US President Joe Biden would defend both the military alliance and the future of his presidency.

It was a closely scrutinised event, with reporters on the lookout for any missteps or signs of age.

But Biden approached the podium with confidence, despite the occasional – though memorable – slip-up. Here are some photos from the night’s news conference.

Reporting from Washington, DC, Al Jazeera correspondent Kimberly Halkett explained that – on the whole – US President Biden delivered a good performance in his news conference, despite scrutiny over his age.

“This is probably one of the president’s better press conferences, given the fact that he was mostly unscripted and for the most part was uncontrolled by his press shop,” Halkett said.

“I have been covering this president since the beginning of his term, and I can tell you this is the first time that he has not been highly, highly controlled by his press office.”

Donald Trump has taken to his social media platform Truth Social to mock Biden for a verbal misstep after the Democratic president mistakenly referred to “Vice President Trump”.

“Crooked Joe begins his ‘Big Boy’ Press Conference with, ‘I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president, though I think she was not qualified to be president,'” Trump’s post reads.

“Great job, Joe!”

That post was followed up with several video clips of Biden struggling to answer questions.

“Crooked Joe has a case of Trump Derangement Syndrome!” Trump later posted.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said in a phone call with a Dutch counterpart that NATO should not interfere in China’s affairs, following statements from NATO chief Stoltenberg that China has become an “enabler” of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The news outlet Reuters reported that Wang said China is willing to deal with NATO on equal terms but would never accept “unfounded accusations”.

Biden has said that he will remain in the race unless there is strong evidence that there’s “no way” he can win.

“No one’s saying that. No poll says that,” Biden said in a whisper, despite a series of polls showing him losing to Trump in essential swing states across the country.

“There are other people who could beat Trump, too,” he added. “But it’s awful hard to start from scratch.”

Biden has said that concerns over the health of US democracy are one factor in his decision to remain in the race, even as Democratic counterparts worry that he has no path to beating Trump and should make room for a replacement candidate with a better chance of winning in November.

“Do you think this democracy is under siege based on Project 2025?” said Biden, referring to a set of radical proposals Trump allies have proposed as a roadmap for his return to office.

“Do you think he [Trump] means what he says that he’s going to do away with the civil service? Eliminate the Department of Education? We’ve never been here before. And that’s the other reason I didn’t hand it off to another generation. We’ve gotta finish this job. We’ve gotta finish this job because there’s so much at stake.”

Asked if he would do anything differently in his handling of Israel’s war in Gaza, President Biden said that Israel’s current right-wing government has not always cooperated with efforts to allow more aid into Gaza.

“We pushed it [efforts to get more humanitarian aid into Gaza] really hard, and Israel occasionally was less than cooperative,” he said.

Biden made little reference to the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, where more than 38,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed. Israeli forces also have faced allegations of widespread rights abuses.

Instead, the president noted his longstanding links with Israel, referring to his experience meeting with former Israeli leader Golda Meir when he was a US senator.

The Biden administration has continued to send billions of dollars of weapons to Israel, despite growing international pressure to bring the war to an end.

Biden has waved aside concerns over his age, saying that he is confident in his ability to deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping and “any world leader” now and into the future.

“I’m ready to deal with him [Xi] now and three years from now,” said Biden.

The president added that he is not interested in speaking with Russian President Putin unless he is “ready to change his behaviour”.

Biden has said that Vice President Kamala Harris is “qualified” to be president, as rumours swirl that she could replace him at the head of the Democratic Party ticket.

“She was a first-rate person, and in the Senate, she was really good,” said Biden. “I wouldn’t have picked her unless I thought she was qualified to be president, from the very beginning I made no bones about that. She is qualified to be president. That’s why I picked her.”

Biden has touted his ability to bring together international leaders over issues such as Ukraine, calling this week’s NATO summit the most successful he’s attended in a long time before appearing to trail off.

“Heads of state have been thanking me, saying the reason we’re here together is because of Biden. Because Biden did the following,” Biden said.

“Look folks, this is uh … Well, anyway, I thought this was the most successful conference I’ve attended for a long time. Find me a world leader that didn’t think it was,” he added.

Rebuking calls to end his campaign for a second term in office, Biden said he would “complete the job”.

“I think I’m the most qualified person to run for president. I beat him [Trump] once, and I will beat him again,” said Biden.

“I’m just gonna keep moving,” he added.

In a press conference where Biden’s age and mental acuity are under intense domestic scrutiny, the president mistakenly referred to “Vice President Trump”.

Tackling the first question from the press, Biden said he “wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president,” if he did not think she was qualified, meaning to refer to Vice President Kamala Harris.

Earlier in the day, Biden accidentally referred to Ukraine’s Zelenskyy as “President Putin”.

Biden has drawn a contrast between himself and Donald Trump in his remarks, saying that he has made it clear that a strong NATO is “essential” to US security.

“Several heads of state have made it a point in their statements to thank the United States, and to thank me personally, for all that NATO has achieved. NATO is not only stronger, NATO is bigger, because we led the charge to bring Finland and Sweden into the alliance,” Biden said.

“Meanwhile, my predecessor has made it clear he has no commitment to NATO. He’s made it clear that he would feel no obligation to honour Article 5,” he explained, referencing a mutual defence pact in the NATO alliance treaty.

President Biden has celebrated NATO’s 75-year history, calling the summit a “great success” and stating that the alliance has made the world safer and more free.

“Standing together, they knew we’d all be safer. An attack on one would be treated as an attack on all,” said Biden.

“And it has worked, because a would-be aggressor knows, if they attack one of us, they’ll be attacked by all of us. Sending that message is the best way to deter aggression and prevent wars in the first place. For those who thought NATO’s time had passed, they got a rude awakening when Putin invaded Ukraine.”

Biden is expected to speak at any moment as the 75th NATO summit draws to a close. His hotly anticipated news conference is set to be a test of his presidency – and of his ability to continue to campaign for re-election, amid criticism he should drop out of the race.

President Biden told South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk Yeol that US deterrence on the Korean peninsula includes all the country’s military capabilities.

The assurance came in a short meeting on the sidelines of this week’s NATO summit.

“The Presidents reaffirmed their commitments in the US-ROK [Republic of Korea] Washington Declaration and highlighted that any nuclear attack by the DPRK against the ROK will be met with a swift, overwhelming and decisive response,” a joint statement reads, referring to North Korea by an abbreviation for its official name – Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

NATO has signed a certificate with South Korea, confirming the airworthiness of military aircraft manufactured in the country.

Following a meeting with Stoltenberg, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s office released a statement saying that the agreement will enhance defence cooperation with the alliance.

Zelenskyy has said that Ukraine’s fight against Russia is helping to uphold a world governed by international law, with ramifications beyond its own borders.

“Today, I addressed the NATO-Ukraine Council,” Zelenskyy said in a social media post. “Our fight is not just about Ukraine defending against Russia’s full-scale aggression, but about protecting the rules-based world order.”

Today, I addressed the NATO-Ukraine Council. Our fight is not just about Ukraine defending against Russia’s full-scale aggression, but about protecting the rules-based world order. pic.twitter.com/N8JkBZySzR

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) July 11, 2024