Earlier this week, Vice President of the U.S. Kamala Harris kicked off her very short tour of Southeast Asia by visiting Singapore and Vietnam. The trip was meant to garner more support for the United States amid China’s growing influence in the region, as well as foster better bilateral relations between the United States and Southeast Asia.
Here are five things you need to know about Kamala Harris’s week-long visit.
1. First time a Vice President has visited Vietnam in 50 years.
The Vice President’s visit to Hanoi, Vietnam, will mark the first time a Vice President has visited the country in five decades.
After Vietnam won in the Resistance War against America, Vietnamese and American relations had all but collapsed. While several U.S. officials have made the trip to Vietnam, Kamala Harris’s visit is historically significant as the first Vice President to visit the country, and a testament to the steadily improving relations.
The visit isn’t without its worries, however. Since Biden’s administration pulled their troops out of Afghanistan – leading to the incredibly quick Taliban takeover – many reporters are bringing up the parallel between the U.S. evacuation of American citizens from Saigon in 1975 and the evacuation of American citizens, Afghan allies, and their families in Kabul airport. Furthermore, trust in the United States as an international partner is waning.
Harris’s only comments on the parallels, boiled down: The United States is focusing on evacuation efforts, and all analysis of troop withdrawals can be done in the future.
2. Harris has pushed for increasing pressure on China to prevent their claims on the South China Sea.
Harris’s Singapore visit was marked by a bold jab towards China.
In 2016, China lost a tribunal ruling regarding the claim that they had a historical right to everything within their nine-dash line of the South China Sea. That hasn’t stopped the country from continuously making aggressive moves within the South China Sea – to which many Southeast Asian nations, which share the lucrative stretch of ocean, have complained about.
Harris has addressed China’s intimidation in her speech in Singapore, stating that “... Beijing continues to coerce, to intimidate and to make claims to the vast majority of the South China Sea,” as well as adding that China’s claims are unlawful, undermining the rules-based order, and are a threat to the sovereignty of nations.
Harris has also told Vietnamese officials that there was a need to “raise the pressure on Beijing” to follow the rules of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, otherwise known as UNCLOS. She added that the country’s “bullying tactics” and “excessive maritime claims” needed to be challenged.
IMAGE: Reuters
3. Harris is not the first U.S. official to visit Southeast Asia in recent months.
Since President Joe Biden came to office earlier this year, the Southeast Asian region has seen a marked increase of visits by U.S. officials – an attempt by the Biden administration to fix their relations with the forgotten region.
Harris’s visit aimed to fulfill the Biden administration's wish of fixing relations with the region, as well as strengthening the presence of the United States in the area – especially considering how China had taken advantage of their absence and upped ‘vaccine diplomacy’ in Southeast Asia, acting as a reliable partner during the height of COVID-19.
4. Harris attended the opening of the Southeast Asian regional branch of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
Vice President Kamala Harris attended the opening ceremony of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Southeast Asia Regional Office in Hanoi, Vietnam.
The ceremony, which included attendance of the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, the U.S. CDC Director, and the Deputy Prime Ministers and Health Ministers of eleven countries marks the hopeful future where the Regional Office of the CDC can protect Americans and those who reside within Southeast Asia.
The Regional Office hopes to be able to respond quickly to health threats, as well as build trust between the region and the United States. Considering the Biden administration wants to focus more on Southeast Asia, the opening of a CDC office for the region in a pandemic is a step in the right direction.
5. The trip began and ended with the same agenda of tackling China’s presence in Southeast Asia.
Having spent three days in Singapore and two days in Vietnam, much of Harris’s visit to Southeast Asia was overshadowed by the chaos in Afghanistan as a direct result of American interference – or in this case, non-interference.
However, when her trip came to a close, Harris reiterated the same message she had given to officials when she touched down in Singapore: The United States does not seek conflict with Beijing, but will speak up on issues like the maritime disputes within the South China Sea.
Furthermore, Harris pledged U.S. support towards Southeast Asia. In a meeting with Vietnamese leaders, U.S. support in the form of warships would be offered to their maritime security, as well as a donation of a million Pfizer vaccines.
Considering the tension between Southeast Asia and China due to the South China Sea, Harris’s proposals could have a significant effect on the peaceful region.
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