拜登此次访问将是他首次以总统身份访问爱尔兰，也是第二次爱尔兰天主教总统访问美国。近60年前，第一位爱尔兰天主教总统约翰·肯尼迪(John F. Kennedy)成为第一位访问爱尔兰的在任总司令。
奥巴马总统周二离开华盛顿前往北爱尔兰的贝尔法斯特，这是他为期四天的两国之行的第一站，同行的还有他的儿子亨特·拜登和妹妹瓦莱丽·拜登。
2023年4月11日，在马里兰州安德鲁斯联合基地，乔·拜登总统在儿子亨特·拜登和妹妹瓦莱丽·拜登·欧文斯的陪同下登上空军一号前往爱尔兰。
凯文·拉马克/路透社
在那里，拜登将纪念耶稣受难日协议25周年，该协议结束了该岛30年的教派暴力，被称为“麻烦”
拜登在周二离开时说，他此行的首要任务是“确保爱尔兰协议和冬季协议保持不变”。保持和平。这才是最主要的。”
“拜登总统非常关心北爱尔兰，长期以来一直支持和平与繁荣。作为美国参议员，乔·拜登倡导美国如何在支持和平方面发挥建设性作用，”白宫发言人约翰·柯比周一预演此行时说。
据白宫称，拜登对北爱尔兰的访问还将侧重于“美国支持北爱尔兰巨大的经济潜力以造福所有社区的意愿”。
拜登此行的经济焦点尤其引人注目，因为作为欧盟成员国的爱尔兰和英国的一部分北爱尔兰仍在应对英国离开欧盟时英国退出欧盟的余波。
今年早些时候，达成了一项名为“温莎框架”的贸易协议，以防止该岛恢复严格的陆地边界，并解决英国退出欧盟遗留的一些悬而未决的贸易问题。
一些人担心，爱尔兰和北爱尔兰之间所谓的“硬边界”可能会破坏1998年的和平协议，并导致北爱尔兰主要是新教“统一派”和主要是天主教“民族主义者”之间的紧张局势重新爆发。
拜登此前称赞温莎协议是“确保贝尔法斯特/耶稣受难日协议来之不易的和平与进步得到维护和加强的重要一步。”
在去年将恐怖主义威胁级别降至“实质性”后，北爱尔兰最近又将其提升回“严重”，这意味着根据军情五处的情报评估，袭击非常有可能发生。但是，当被问及拜登的旅行时，柯比周一淡化了对安全的任何担忧。
柯比说:“我们从来不谈论保护总统的安全要求，但总统对这次旅行非常满意，他对此非常兴奋。”。
结束在英国的访问后，拜登将于本周晚些时候前往爱尔兰共和国，在那里他将会见总统迈克尔·希金斯和总理利奥·瓦拉德卡，并在爱尔兰立法机构的联席会议上发表讲话。
“今天，十分之一的美国人声称自己是爱尔兰血统，爱尔兰裔美国人自豪地出现在美国生活的各个方面。“爱尔兰是美国的重要经济伙伴，美国和爱尔兰正在密切合作，以使全球经济更加公平，”柯比在对此次访问的展望中说。
他还特别提到了在俄罗斯入侵之际，爱尔兰对乌克兰的贡献。
“爱尔兰政府一直是乌克兰的坚定支持者，提供了重要的非致命援助，包括医疗用品、防弹衣，以及对乌克兰电网和农业的支持，”他说。
“他们支持欧盟对俄罗斯的制裁，爱尔兰人民慷慨地欢迎了近8万名乌克兰人，为那些被迫逃离家园寻求安全的人提供了庇护，”他说。
但也许拜登此行更大的焦点会追踪他在爱尔兰的联系主要是通过他母亲那边的两个家族:芬尼根家族和布莱威特家族。
据一名白宫官员称，拜登将会见亲属，并参观“对劳斯郡的芬尼根人和梅奥郡的布莱威特人具有重要意义的地方”。
周三下午，拜登将在劳斯郡参观卡林福德城堡;周五在梅奥县，他将参观敲圣母和北梅奥遗产和系谱中心的家庭历史研究部门。(他将于周六返回华盛顿。)
白宫新闻秘书郭佳欣·让-皮埃尔在宣布此行的一份声明中说，预计他还将在梅奥县的圣默多克大教堂附近发表讲话，“庆祝将我们两国和两国人民联系在一起的深厚的历史纽带”。
这座大教堂与拜登的家庭有着深厚的联系——一些亲戚在那里受洗，他的高曾祖父爱德华·布莱维特(Edward Blewitt)向大教堂出售了27000块用于建造大教堂的砖块，最终帮助资助了这个家庭前往美国的航行。
即使是对总统最不经意的观察者也可能听过他吹嘘自己的爱尔兰血统。几乎在他所有的讲话中，他都会经常引用他的爱尔兰家庭成员或者一些他最喜欢的爱尔兰诗歌和文学作品，比如谢默斯·希尼的《特洛伊的治疗》
“我在美国参议院的同事过去常取笑我，因为我总是在地板上引用爱尔兰诗人的话。他们认为我这么做是因为我是爱尔兰人。不是这个原因。我这么做是因为他们是世界上最好的诗人，”拜登开玩笑说。
过去，他曾谈到他的爱尔兰血统是“他灵魂的一部分”以及“他是如何被抚养长大的”
他为所有美国人争取“尊严”的政治主张也是基于他的传统。
“这又回到了一个在我家可能被过度使用的词——正如我祖父会说的，‘也许这是它的爱尔兰语。’“尊严”这个词简单的尊严，”拜登在5月份谈到他的政策时表示，他的政策重点是努力改善中产阶级。
这位白宫官员谈到此行时说，在爱尔兰期间，拜登将“讨论作为爱尔兰人的强烈自豪感和认为每个人都有权受到尊严和尊重的价值体系是如何传递给每一代人的”。
“他还将讨论爱尔兰裔美国人的故事——忍受困难时期，但朝着更美好的明天前进——如何讲述我们共同的过去、现在和未来，”这位官员补充说。
Biden travels to Ireland and UK to celebrate 25 years of peace -- and his family ties
PresidentJoe Bidenis heading across the pondfor a long-awaited trip to Ireland, his ancestral homeland, that will feature a heavy emphasis on family in addition to diplomacy.
Biden's visit will be his first to Ireland as president and mark only the second time an Irish-Catholic president has made a visit from the U.S. It also comes nearly 60 years after the first Irish-Catholic president, John F. Kennedy, became the first sitting commander in chief to visit Ireland.
The president left Washington on Tuesday for Belfast, Northern Ireland -- the first stop of his four-day, two-country trip -- alongside his son Hunter Biden and his sister Valerie Biden.
There, Biden will mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that brought an end to 30 years of sectarian violence on the island known as "the Troubles."
Biden said as he departed Tuesday his top priority for the trip is to "make sure the Irish accords and the Winter agreement stay in place. Keep the peace. That's the main thing."
"President Biden cares deeply about Northern Ireland and has a long history of supporting peace and prosperity. As a U.S. senator, Joe Biden was an advocate for how the United States can play a constructive role supporting peace," White House spokesperson John Kirby said Monday, previewing the trip.
Biden's visit to Northern Ireland will also focus on "the readiness of the United States to support Northern Ireland's vast economic potential to the benefit of all communities," according to the White House.
The economic focus of Biden's visit is particularly notable as Ireland, a member of the European Union, and Northern Ireland, part of the U.K., are still dealing with the fallout from Brexit, when the U.K. left the EU.
Earlier this year, a trade deal called the Windsor Framework was struck to prevent a strict land border from being reinstated on the island and to address some of the outstanding trade concerns remaining from Brexit.
A so-called "hard border" between Ireland and Northern Ireland, some feared, could undermine the 1998 peace agreement and see tensions reignited between mostly Protestant "unionists" and mostly Catholic "nationalists" in Northern Ireland.
Biden previously praised the Windsor deal as "an essential step to ensuring that the hard-earned peace and progress of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement is preserved and strengthened."
After lowering the terrorism threat level to "substantial" last year, Northern Ireland has recently raised it back to "severe," meaning an attack is highly likely, based off an MI5 intelligence assessment. But Kirby on Monday downplayed any concerns about security when asked about Biden's travel.
"We don't ever talk about security requirements of protecting the president, but the president is more than comfortable making this trip and he's very excited to do it," Kirby said.
Following his time in the U.K., Biden will head to the Republic of Ireland later this week, where he will meet with President Michael D. Higgins and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar as well as address a joint session of the Irish legislature.
"Today, one in 10 Americans claim Irish ancestry and Irish Americans are proudly represented in every facet of American life. Ireland's a key economic partner of the United States, and the United States and Ireland are working closely together to make the global economy more fair," Kirby said in his preview of the trip.
He also singled out Ireland's contributions to Ukraine amid Russia's invasion.
"The Irish government has been strong supporters of Ukraine, providing vital non-lethal assistance including medical supplies, body armor and support for Ukraine's electric grid, as well as their agriculture," he said.
"They have supported EU sanctions on Russia and the people of Ireland have generously welcomed nearly 80,000 Ukrainians, offering refuge to those who were forced to flee their homes in search of safety," he said.
But perhaps the bigger focus of Biden's tripwill be tracing his connections back to Ireland, mainly through two families on his mother's side: the Finnegans and Blewitts.
Biden is expected to meet with relatives and visit "places of significance to the Finnegans of County Louth and the Blewitts of County Mayo," according to a White House official.
In County Louth on Wednesday afternoon, Biden will visit Carlingford Castle; on Friday in County Mayo, he will visit Our Lady of Knock and the North Mayo Heritage and Genealogical Center's family history research unit. (He returns to Washington on Saturday.)
He is also expected to deliver remarks near St. Murdoch's Cathedral in County Mayo that "celebrate the deep, historic ties that link our countries and people," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement announcing the trip.
That cathedral has deep ties to Biden's family -- some relatives were baptized there, and his great-great-great grandfather Edward Blewitt sold 27,000 bricks to the cathedral that were used in its construction, which ultimately helped fund the family's voyage to America.
Even the most casual observers of the president have likely heard him boast of his Irish heritage. In nearly all his remarks, he will often quote members of his Irish family or some of his favorite Irish poems and literature, like Seamus Heaney's "The Cure at Troy."
"My colleagues up in the United States Senate used to kid me becauseI was always quoting Irish poets on the floor. They thought I did it because I was Irish. That's not the reason. I did it because they're the best poets in the world," Biden has joked.
In the past he has spoken about his Irish roots as "part of [his] soul" and "how [he] was raised."
The focus of his political pitch of "dignity" for all Americans is also based on his heritage.
"[I]t gets back to a word that's probably overused in my house -- as my grandfather would say, 'Maybe it's the Irish of it.' The word 'dignity.' The simple dignity," Biden said in May of his policies focused on trying to improve the middle class.
During his time in Ireland, Biden will "discuss how a fierce pride in being Irish and a value system that says everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect have been passed down to each generation," the White House official said of the trip.
"He will also discuss how the Irish-American story -- of enduring difficult times but marching forward towards a better tomorrow -- speaks to our shared past, present and future," the official added.
