U.S. Vice President Harris to visit Vietnam, Singapore

Reuters

Published Jul 30, 2021 12:46PM ET

Updated Jul 30, 2021 03:41PM ET

By Doina Chiacu and Nandita Bose

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Kamala Harris will become the first U.S. vice president to visit Vietnam next month during a trip that will also include Singapore and is aimed at rallying 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 spokesperson Symone Sanders.

Former U.S. foe Vietnam has emerged as a key U.S. partner and a vocal opponent of China's territorial claims in the South China Sea. Harris' trip will follow one that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made this week to Hanoi.

"President Biden and Vice President Harris have made it a top priority to rebuild our global partnerships and keep our nation secure, and this upcoming visit continues that work," the White House said in a statement outlining Harris's travel plans. 

It did not give precise dates for her trip and diplomats said these were still being worked on.

In Vietnam on Thursday, Austin sought to nudge forward security ties that have been steadily deepening amid shared concern about China's activities in the South China Sea.

Austin also visited the Philippines and scored a significant success when its President Rodrigo Duterte restored a pact governing the movement of U.S. troops in and out of the country, something strategically vital for U.S. efforts to counter China.

Analysts said Harris's visit would be important to emphasize Washington's commitment to Southeast Asia, and several speculated it could result in more pledges of U.S. vaccines to the region, which has been hit hard recently by COVID-19.

"The Austin visit this week was badly needed to show Southeast Asia that the U.S. wants to engage," said Murray Hiebert, a Southeast Asia expert at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"Austin was under pressure to deliver this message and Harris will do the same."

On Sunday, the United States shipped 3 million doses of the Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) COVID-19 vaccine to Vietnam and it has sent doses to other Southeast Asian countries too, but an agreement it reached in March with Japan and Australia and India to provide a billion doses to the region stalled due to an Indian export ban.

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman visited Indonesia, Cambodia and Thailand in late May and early June and Japan, South Korea and Mongolia this month before heading to China for talks that appeared to do little to ease deeply strained ties.