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"It is in our vital interest to stand united with our allies and our partners in Southeast Asia in defense of a free and open Indo-Pacific," she said. On Monday, Harris told sailors aboard a US combat ship at the Changi naval base in Singapore that a big part of the history of the 21st century will be written about this very region and that their work defending the region was pivotal. Harris' remarks echoed and expanded upon remarks she delivered at the US Naval Academy graduation in June, where she described a world that is "interconnected, interdependent and fragile". Harris' remarks also come during a critical moment for the United States as the Biden administration seeks to further solidify its pivot towards Asia while America's decades-long focus on the Middle East comes to a messy end with the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. The address on Tuesday morning at Singapore's iconic Gardens by the Bay waterfront park offered an opportunity for the former state attorney general and US senator to prove her fluidity with diplomatic and security issues. Harris, who is on a weeklong swing through Southeast Asia, declared that "the US stands with our allies and our partners" in the face of threats from China. "Instead, our engagement is about advancing an optimistic vision that we have for our participation and partnership in this region and our economic vision is a critical part of that, she said. "Our engagement in Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific is not against any one country, nor is it designed to make anyone choose between countries. In her speech, vice president Harris stressed that Washington was not seeking to make countries choose sides. However, Beijing has not only remained defiant but also consolidated its claims over the area, building artificial islands backed by military installations fitted with missiles and an airport.Īccording to observers, Vietnam - which has been a vocal opponent of China's territorial claims in the SCS - has emerged as a key partner of the US though it is the same country from where America withdrew its troops in the 1970s, virtually conceding defeat. For decades, China, which boycotted the tribunal questioning its legality, has been asserting that its emperors discovered the islands hundreds of years ago and have been exercising control over the area throughout history.īut its claims came into conflict with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan as they hardly have Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) provided by the UN Convention on the Law of Seas, which Beijing declined to recognise. The US has been periodically conducting naval and aerial missions through the SCS to challenge China's claims. The tribunal concluded that there was no legal basis for China to claim historic rights to resources within the sea areas falling within the nine-dash line', the five-judge tribunal appointed by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) based in The Hague adjudicating on the petition filed by the Philippines had said. On July 12, 2016, the international tribunal on the South China Sea struck the worst blow to China's claims over almost all of the SCS, saying its much-touted nine-dash line has no legal basis.
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