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Reuters

The United States welcomes competition and does not seek conflict with Beijing, but will speak up on issues like maritime disputes in the South China Sea, Vice-President Kamala Harris said on Thursday as she concluded a trip to Southeast Asia.
In visits to Singapore and Vietnam, Harris charged China with bullying its Southeast Asian neighbours, triggering sharp rebukes from Beijing, which accused the US of meddling in regional affairs and disrupting peace.
“We welcome stiff competition, we do not seek conflict, but on issues such as the South China Sea, we are going to speak up,” Harris told a news conference in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi.
“We are going to speak up when there are actions that Beijing takes that threaten the rules-based international order,” she added.
Kamala Harris’ Southeast Asia visit draws Chinese netizens’ ire
Harris’s seven-day trip to Singapore and Vietnam is part of a broader US strategy to take on China globally.
China, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan lay claim to parts of the disputed waters of the South China Sea, which is crossed by vital shipping lanes and contains gas fields and rich fishing grounds.
In meetings with Vietnamese leaders on Wednesday, Harris said China’s “bullying and excessive maritime claims” in the South China Sea should be challenged, and offered US support to enhance Vietnam’s maritime security, including more visits by American warships to the country.
Her statements drew condemnation from Chinese state media.


On Wednesday, the state-run China Daily, responding to Harris’ comments in Singapore, said Harris had “wilfully ignored her own hypocrisy” in attempting to rally countries in the region against China.
On Thursday, after her meetings in Hanoi, the Global Times said the US was “dreaming” to incite Vietnam to confront China.
“For Washington, it couldn’t be better if a new war between Beijing and Hanoi breaks out,” the tabloid, published by the official newspaper of China’s ruling Communist Party, said in an editorial.
In addition to rebukes by China’s foreign ministry and state media, Beijing attempted to stage its own diplomatic coup during the trip with a surprise meeting in Vietnam, held as Harris’ departure from Singapore was delayed by three hours.
During the previously unannounced meeting, between Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and the Chinese ambassador, Chinh said Vietnam does not take sides in foreign policy, and thanked the ambassador for a new donation of 2 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines.
In her own meeting with Chinh one day later, Harris pledged a US donation of 1 million Pfizer vaccine doses to Vietnam.
Will Vietnam heed US call for ‘strategic’ upgrade to bilateral ties?
Harris’ delayed arrival was later attributed by the US Embassy in Hanoi to a mystery health incident potentially related to the mysterious “Havana Syndrome,” a condition of unknown origin that has sickened at least 200 US officials, including CIA officers, with symptoms including nausea, migraines and memory lapses.
“I will tell you we’re looking into it and I’m not able to share much more at this time,” Harris said of the incident in Thursday’s news conference.
The US administration has called rivalry with China “the biggest geopolitical test” of the century as it tries to rebuild its relationships in the region with a series of high-profile visits.
Over the last few years, tensions between China and Vietnam in the South China Sea have remained high, although Hanoi has attempted to strike a delicate balancing act.
Hanoi and Beijing’s ruling Communist parties maintain close ties, and Vietnam is dependent on imported Chinese materials to support its manufacturing and exports.


Meanwhile, ties with old foe the United States have grown increasingly close, although Washington has said there are limits to the relationship until Vietnam makes progress on human rights, an issue Harris said she raised with the country’s leaders.
“We will not shy away from speaking out, even when those conversations, may be difficult to have, and perhaps difficult to hear,” she told reporters.
Harris said she spoke with Vietnamese leaders in particular about the release of political dissidents, but did not describe the outcome of those conversations. Vietnam has faced criticism for restrictions on freedom of expression and the press and a crackdown on people it deems political dissidents. But Harris didn’t respond when asked why the US criticises China for similar abuses, but is seeking a stronger partnership with Vietnam.


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Kamala Harris

Kamala Harris says US not seeking conflict with Beijing but will ‘speak up’ on South China Sea

US Vice-President Kamala Harris boards Air Force Two as she departs Vietnam on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

US VP Harris seeks strategic upgrade to Vietnam ties, calls for pressure against Beijing in South China Sea

US Vice-President Kamala Harris’ two-day trip to Vietnam is part of a Southeast Asian diplomatic charm offensive that first took her to Singapore. Photo: Reuters

FILE - In this Tuesday, April 29, 1975 file photo, U.S. Navy personnel aboard the USS Blue Ridge push a helicopter into the sea off the coast of Vietnam in order to make room for more evacuation flights from Saigon. The helicopter had carried Vietnamese people fleeing Saigon as North Vietnamese forces closed in on the capital. (AP Photo/File)

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, left, and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, right, attend a meeting at the government office in Hanoi, Vietnam, Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2021. Harris turns her focus to the coronavirus pandemic and global health during her visit to Vietnam, a country grappling with a worsening surge in the virus and stubbornly low vaccination rates. (Manan Vatsyayana/Pool Photo via AP)

US not seeking ‘zero sum’ engagement with Asia but will stand up against coercive China, Kamala Harris says

US Vice-President Kamala Harris delivers a speech at Gardens by the Bay in Singapore on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters

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The vice-president told reporters in Hanoi Washington welcomes competition with Beijing as she concluded her seven-day trip to Southeast Asia
Harris also said she raised human rights issues including the release of political dissidents with Vietnamese leaders



The vice-president told reporters in Hanoi Washington welcomes competition with Beijing as she concluded her seven-day trip to Southeast Asia.
