Four Southeast Asian states — Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam — as well as Taiwan have overlapping claims with Beijing in the flashpoint sea, home to key shipping lanes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Following the previous administration and what’s happening in Afghanistan, it is a categorical imperative for the US to build up political trust in this region,” said Mustafa Izzuddin, a senior international affairs analyst at consultancy Solaris Strategies Singapore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the Singapore leg of her trip, Harris will meet the president and prime minister and make a stop at the Changi Naval Base, where she’ll address US sailors aboard the visiting USS Tulsa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She arrives in Hanoi late Tuesday, and will be the first US vice president to visit Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She will hold Vietnamese government meetings, attend the opening of a Southeast Asian regional branch of the US Centers for Disease Control, and meet civil society representatives in the communist country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She will also join a virtual meeting of Southeast Asian officials which will focus on the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

mba\/sr\/mtp<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Vice President Kamala Harris began a trip to Asia Sunday where she will offer reassurances of Washington’s commitment to the region after the chaotic US pullout from Afghanistan and Taliban takeover. The hardline Islamists’ swift return to power a week ago, and desperate scenes of thousands trying to flee, have cast another shadow over the United States’ status as a global superpower. But on her visit, which includes stops in Singapore and Vietnam, Harris will seek to allay concerns about US dependability. “The vice president will make clear throughout the trip that we do have an enduring commitment to the region,” said […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n