
US Vice President Kamala Harris met top leaders of Vietnam during an official tour across South Asia. She offered support from the US to Vietnam to counter China’s growing presence in the South China Sea.
Harris met Vietnam’s President Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan, and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh. The US VP is on a seven-day trip to Singapore and Vietnam, as part of a broader strategy to gain allies against Beijing’s increasing influence in the region.
Harris said, “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.”
Harris has also called Beijing’s presence in the region unlawful, with China currently contesting a 2016 tribunal ruling in the Hague over the Nine-Dash Line in the South China Sea.
Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan also lay claim to parts of the sea, which has led to increased tensions between China and Vietnam in the past few years.