US Vice President Kamala Harris has sharply reprimanded China for its incursions into the South China Sea, warned its actions there as “coercion” and “intimidation” and assured that the US will support its allies in the region against Beijing’s advances.
“We know that Beijing continues to enforce, intimidate and claim most of the South China Sea,” she said in a major foreign policy speech in Singapore on Tuesday in which she shared the Biden government’s vision for the Indian government set out. Pacific. “Beijing’s actions continue to undermine the rules-based order and threaten the sovereignty of nations.”
The speech aimed to cement US commitment to support its allies in an area that is of growing importance to the Biden administration and has made combating China’s global influence a core part of its foreign policy.
Harris, who is on a week-long tour of Southeast Asia, said the US “stands by our allies and partners” in the face of threats from China.
Tuesday morning’s address in Singapore’s iconic Gardens by the Bay Waterfront Park gave the former Attorney General and US Senator an opportunity to demonstrate her flair for diplomatic and security issues.
Harris’s remarks also come at a critical moment for the United States as the Biden administration seeks to consolidate its focus on Asia as America’s decades of focus on the Middle East come to a chaotic end with the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Harris’ remarks echoed and expanded upon what she said at the US Naval Academy graduation ceremony in June, describing a world that is “connected,” “interdependent,” and “fragile.”
On Monday, Harris told sailors aboard a US warship at the Changi Naval Base in Singapore that “a large part of the story of the 21st
“It is in our vital interests to stand together with our allies and partners in Southeast Asia to defend a free and open Indo-Pacific,” she said.
Harris also met with Singapore’s President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday. The Vice President’s Office announced a series of agreements from that meeting aimed at tackling cyber threats, tackling climate change, tackling the COVID-19 pandemic and alleviating supply chain problems.
Following her speech on Tuesday, Harris will have a round table discussion with business leaders on supply chain issues and then travel to Vietnam, where she will meet with top officials on Wednesday.
President Joe Biden himself has repeatedly emphasized his focus on China as one of America’s main opponents, promising in a February speech to the State Department that he would “counter China’s economic abuses; counteract his aggressive coercive measures; to roll back China’s attacks on human rights, intellectual property and global governance ”- a message that he repeated to his European allies later this month at the virtual G7 summit and the Munich security conference.
And in recent months, his administration has stepped up operations in the Indo-Pacific region, with Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Assistant Secretary of State Wendy Austin both visiting the region in the spring and summer. Foreign Minister Antony Blinken also held a series of virtual meetings with Southeast Asian officials earlier this month.
However, the chaotic US withdrawal from Afghanistan complicated this message of support to the region and raised questions about US engagement with its allies. While Biden said last week that an indefinite engagement would benefit “true strategic competitors” China and Russia, China has picked up the images of violence from the evacuation to condemn the US for its involvement there.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Monday the US had done “unscrupulous and dishonest things” in Afghanistan and called on the nation to help rebuild.
“The United States is the main cause and the largest external factor in the Afghanistan issue,” Wenbin said. “It can’t just run away like that.”
However, Harris said during a joint press conference with Prime Minister Lee Monday that her presence in the country, combined with the increased cooperation agreements the Biden government has pursued with the Indo-Pacific countries, “speaks volumes on integrity.” Relationships that the United States has around the world on many subjects. “
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