Kamala Harris rebukes China in major speech

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It came as US Vice President Kamala Harris met Vietnam’s top leaders on Wednesday, offering support in several key areas including the enhancement of its maritime security in an effort to counter Beijing’s increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea. Ms Harris also offered more visits by US warships during her talks with Vietnam’s President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, according to a White House official who did not wish to be named.

Ms Harris’s seven-day trip to Singapore and Vietnam is part of a broader US strategy to woo allies that Washington hopes will help it challenge China’s growing security and economic influence in the region.

During the talks the Vice President offered Vietnam vaccines and aid to tackle COVID-19 and announced the launch of several programs to help combat climate change, said the White House official.

Speaking in Hanoi, Ms Harris said there was a need to increase pressure on Beijing over its maritime claims.

During a meeting with the Vietnamese President, she added: ”We need to find ways to pressure, raise the pressure on Beijing to abide by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, and to challenge, its bullying and excessive maritime claims.”

It was the second time in two days the US Vice President has attacked Beijing.

On Tuesday in Singapore, Harris accused Beijing of coercion and intimidation to back unlawful claims in parts of the disputed the South China Sea. China rejected her comments, charging Washington with trying to drive a wedge between Beijing and its Southeast Asian neighbours.

China has established military outposts on artificial islands in the South China Sea, which is crossed by vital shipping lanes and contain gas fields and rich fishing grounds.

China, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan lay claim to parts of the waters.

Over the last few years, tensions between China and Vietnam in the South China Sea have remained high and Vietnam has quietly endorsed the US Indo-Pacific strategy because it takes a hard line against China in the disputed waters.

However, with US-China competition throughout the Indo-Pacific dramatically heating up, the Southeast Asian nation has attempted to strike a delicate balancing act.

Harris’ arrival in Hanoi was delayed on Tuesday after the US Embassy in Vietnam said it had detected an “anomalous health incident”, potentially related to the mysterious Havana Syndrome.

During the delay, Vietnam’s Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and China’s ambassador to Vietnam held a previously unannounced meeting, during which Chinh said Vietnam does not take sides in foreign policy. The Chinese ambassador told Chinh Beijing would donate 2 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam.

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Senior White House officials have said Ms Harris will strike a balance during her meetings in the region by offering to counter China’s influence while not forcing the nations to take sides between the two powers.

The Vice President offered US support to Vietnam’s increased maritime security included visits by American ships and aircraft carriers, the White House official said.

Also contingent on approval from the US Congress, she offered the deployment of a third Coast Guard high-endurance cutter – a fleet of 24 patrol boats, base facilities, piers, law enforcement training, and other joint activities that helps Vietnam bolster its maritime security, the official said.

The US also launched a five-year, $36million USAID project which aims to accelerate Vietnam’s transition to clean energy and announced lower tariffs on US exports of corn, wheat, and pork products to Vietnam to reduce the trade deficit with the country.

Ms Harris is also expected to sign a lease for a new US Embassy compound in Hanoi in an effort to expand the relationship between the two countries, the official said.

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