US VP Harris: Focus must stay on Afghan evacuation

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Vice President Kamala Harris asserted Monday that the U.S. indispensable support its absorption connected evacuating Americans and susceptible Afghans and shouldn’t get distracted by questions implicit what went incorrect successful the chaotic U.S. exit from Afghanistan.

Speaking astatine a quality league successful Singapore, Harris repeatedly declined to prosecute erstwhile asked what she felt should person been done otherwise successful the withdrawal.

“There’s nary question determination volition beryllium and should beryllium a robust investigation of what has happened, but close present there’s nary question that our absorption has to beryllium connected evacuating American citizens, Afghans who worked with america and susceptible Afghans, including women and children,” she said.

Harris took questions alongside Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong aft the 2 met for astir 2 hours to sermon issues ranging from the COVID-19 effect to cybersecurity and proviso concatenation cooperation. The quality league was dominated by Afghanistan, aft the messy U.S. withdrawal sparked concerns astir America’s commitments to its allies globally.

Harris’ sojourn to Singapore and Vietnam this week is seen arsenic the archetypal existent trial of the Biden administration’s quality to reassure cardinal allies of its resolve.

Prime Minister Lee offered his country’s enactment for the U.S. determination to withdraw, however, and said Singapore was “grateful” for the U.S. efforts to combat coercion successful Afghanistan. He besides offered the U.S. the usage of the Singapore Air Force’s transport craft to assistance with the evacuation, and said the state is present watching what the U.S. does next.

“What matters is however the U.S. repositions itself successful the Asia Pacific, engages the broader portion and continues to combat against terrorism, due to the fact that that volition find the perceptions of the countries of the U.S.′ planetary priorities and of its strategical intentions,” helium said.

Harris’ Southeast Asian trip, which brings her to Singapore and past aboriginal to Vietnam this week, is aimed astatine broadening practice with some nations to connection a counterweight to China’s increasing power successful the region.

On Monday, the vice president’s bureau announced a bid of caller agreements with Singapore aimed astatine combating cyberthreats, tackling clime change, addressing the COVID-19 pandemic and alleviating proviso concatenation issues.

On cybersecurity, the Treasury and Defense Departments, arsenic good arsenic the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, person each inked a memorandum of knowing with their Singapore counterparts expanding accusation sharing and grooming to combat cyberthreats.

The 2 nations agreed to cooperate much intimately to way COVID-19 variants and prosecute successful probe connected coronavirus treatments. And the Department of Commerce is joining with the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry to make a concern focused connected strengthening commercialized passim a fistful of cardinal industries.

The White House announced further agreements betwixt the 2 nations fostering practice connected abstraction exploration and defence issues arsenic well. The announcements came Monday aft Harris met with Singapore President Halimah Yacob and Prime Minister Lee.

Harris is acceptable to sojourn the Changi Naval Base connected Monday afternoon, wherever she’ll talk to American sailors aboard the USS Tulsa, a combat ship.

On Tuesday, Harris volition present a code outlining the Biden administration’s imaginativeness for the region, and conscionable with concern leaders to sermon proviso concatenation issues.

The travel marks Harris’ 2nd overseas travel successful bureau — she visited Guatemala and Mexico successful June — and volition beryllium the archetypal clip a U.S. vice president has visited Vietnam.

Singapore is the anchor of the U.S. naval beingness successful Southeast Asia and has a heavy commercialized concern with the U.S., but the state besides seeks to support beardown ties with China and a presumption of neutrality amid progressively frosty U.S.-China relations.

Relations betwixt the U.S. and China deteriorated sharply nether Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump, and the 2 sides stay astatine likelihood implicit a big of issues including technology, cybersecurity and quality rights.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made their archetypal overseas trips to Japan and South Korea. Austin traveled to Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines past period and vowed U.S. enactment against Beijing’s intrusions successful the South China Sea.

Alexander Feldman, president and CEO of the US-ASEAN Business Council, said Harris volition person to beryllium cautious successful her conversations with Singapore’s leaders not to absorption excessively heavy connected China, but to stress a positive, productive U.S. narration with Singapore and Vietnam.

“Where she could autumn into a trap is truly trying to pit this arsenic a U.S. versus China trip. It should beryllium a U.S. travel to our friends and partners successful Southeast Asia,” Feldman said.

If China becomes the main focal point, helium said, “that makes it harder for our friends to determination guardant crossed the region, not lone successful Singapore and Vietnam but beyond that.”

Indeed, Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said successful a caller interrogation that Singapore volition “be utile but we volition not beryllium made usage of” successful its relations with some countries, and the nation’s premier curate antecedently warned the U.S. against pursuing an assertive attack to China.

Beijing, however, has seized connected Harris’ trip, with China’s authoritative Xinhua News Agency issuing an editorial Saturday connected the sojourn portraying it arsenic portion of a thrust to incorporate China.

Visits to Southeast Asia by elder Biden officials are aiming to “woo these countries to signifier a ringing of containment against China. But Southeast Asian countries are reluctant to take sides betwixt China and the United States, and America’s ‘wishful plan’ volition extremity successful failure,” Xinhua said.

The U.S. attack is based connected “outdated Cold War reasoning and is intended to provoke troubles successful their relations with China, make part and confrontation, and effort to make a ringing of containment,” the editorial said.

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