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WASHINGTON, July 30 (Reuters) – Kamala Harris will be the first US Vice President to visit Vietnam next month during a trip that includes Singapore, aimed at gaining international support to counter China’s growing influence.
Harris will discuss regional security, the global response to COVID-19, climate change and “our joint efforts to promote a rules-based international order,” said spokesman Symone Sanders.
The former US enemy Vietnam has proven to be an important US partner and vocal opponent of China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. Harris’ trip follows a trip that Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin made to Hanoi this week. Continue reading
“President Biden and Vice President Harris have made it a top priority to rebuild our global partnerships and ensure the security of our nation, and this upcoming visit will continue that work,” the White House said in a statement on Harris’ travel plans.
There were no exact dates for her trip and diplomats said they were still in the works.
In Vietnam, Austin attempted to advance security ties on Thursday, which steadily deepened amid shared concerns over China’s activities in the South China Sea.
Austin also visited the Philippines and achieved significant success when its President Rodrigo Duterte reestablished a pact on the entry and exit of US troops, which is strategic to US efforts against China. Continue reading
Analysts said Harris’ visit was important to underscore Washington’s commitment to Southeast Asia, and several speculated it could lead to further U.S. vaccine pledges for the region recently hit hard by COVID-19.
“The visit to Austin this week was urgently needed to show Southeast Asia that the US wanted to get involved,” said Murray Hiebert, Southeast Asia expert at the Washington Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“Austin was under pressure to get this message across and Harris will do the same.”
On Sunday, the United States shipped 3 million doses of the Moderna-COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam, and they also sent doses to other Southeast Asian countries, but an agreement they made with Japan, Australia and India in March to make one Billion cans to the region stalled due to an Indian export ban.
Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Sherman visited Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand, as well as Japan, South Korea and Mongolia in late May and early June this month before heading to China for talks that appear to do little to ease deeply strained ties.
President Joe Biden highlighted the threat Washington sees from China this week, saying that Chinese leader Xi Jinping is “very serious about it until the mid-20th, 40s, 2040s.”
On her first trip abroad in the Office, Harris visited Mexico and Guatemala in June with the aim of containing migration from the region. During her trip, she focused on issues such as economic development, food insecurity and women’s issues.
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