US Vice President Kamala Harris accused Beijing on Tuesday of coercion and intimidation in the hotly disputed South China Sea, as she sought to rally allies against an increasingly assertive China.
“Beijing continues to coerce, to intimidate and to make claims to the vast majority of the South China Sea,” she said in a speech in Singapore, laying out her administration’s foreign policy goals for Asia.
“Beijing’s actions continue to undermine the rules-based order and threaten the sovereignty of nations.
“The United States stands with our allies and partners in the face of these threats.”
She also defended President Joe Biden’s decision to push ahead with the US pullout from Afghanistan as “courageous and right” and reiterated US officials were “laser-focused” on the chaotic evacuation from Kabul airport.
After wrapping her visit to Singapore Tuesday, Harris heads to Vietnam.
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© Agence France-Presse