US, China accuse each other of 'bullying' nations

HANOI • United States Vice-President Kamala Harris yesterday charged China with bullying its South-east Asian neighbours, the second time in two days that she has attacked Beijing during a regional visit aimed at countering China's growing influence.

Earlier yesterday, Chinese state media accused Ms Harris of seeking to drive a wedge between China and South-east Asian nations with comments made in Singapore that Beijing used coercion and intimidation to back its unlawful South China Sea claims.

Speaking in Hanoi yesterday, Ms Harris said there was a need to increase pressure on Beijing over its maritime claims.

"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," said Ms Harris at a meeting with Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

China, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan lay claim to parts of the South China Sea, which is crossed by vital shipping lanes and contains gas fields and rich fishing grounds.

China has established military outposts on artificial islands in the South China Sea and objects to foreign warships sailing through it.

In 2016, the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled against China's claim, but Beijing has rejected the ruling.

Responding to Ms Harris' speech in Hanoi, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular media briefing yesterday that the US has conducted military interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, yet it claims it is protecting the interests of small countries.

"If the US says it is trying to maintain its own hegemonic position and its own self-interests, then I think that is more credible," Mr Wang said. "The Chinese side firmly opposes the deployment of US maritime forces in the South China Sea to intervene in regional affairs and disrupt the region's peace and stability."

On Ms Harris' comments in Singapore, the state-run China Daily said in an editorial yesterday that "while pointing a finger at China and accusing it of 'coercion' and 'intimidation', (she) wilfully ignored her own hypocrisy in attempting to coerce and intimidate regional countries to join Washington in its scheme to contain China".

Ms Harris' Singapore speech was a baseless attack on China, the editorial said. "It seems that the United States' only commitment to South-east Asia is its dedicated efforts to drive a wedge between the South-east Asian nations and China," it added.

In Hanoi, Ms Harris met Vietnam's top leaders and offered support in several key areas, including the enhancement of its maritime security and more US Navy ship visits to Vietnam.

The US has called rivalry with China "the biggest geopolitical test" of the century and Ms Harris' seven-day trip to Singapore and Vietnam is part of a broader strategy to woo allies that Washington hopes will help it challenge China's growing security and economic influence in the region. Ms Harris also announced the launch of several programmes to help combat climate change.

The Vice-President's arrival in Hanoi was delayed on Tuesday after the US Embassy in Vietnam said it had detected an "anomalous health incident".

During the delay, Vietnam's Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and China's ambassador to Vietnam held a previously unannounced meeting, during which Mr Chinh said Vietnam does not take sides in foreign policy. The Chinese ambassador promised a donation of two million Covid-19 vaccines during the meeting.

China is Vietnam's largest trading partner and Vietnam is heavily reliant on materials and equipment from China for its manufacturing activities. Their ruling communist parties maintain close ties, but Vietnam and China have been in a longstanding dispute over maritime claims in the South China Sea, known as the East Sea in Vietnam.

Ties between Hanoi and Washington have grown closer more than four decades after the Vietnam War ended in 1975, although Washington has said there are limits to the relationship until Hanoi makes progress on human rights.

REUTERS