US Vice President Kamala Harris is to travel next week to a Philippine island near waters claimed by China, an official said yesterday, in a show of support to the US ally.
Harris is to visit the western island province of Palawan on Tuesday as part of a two-nation Asia trip that includes filling in for US President Joe Biden at the APEC summit in Bangkok.
She would be the top-ranking US official ever to visit Palawan, the largest Philippine province, which is not claimed by Beijing, but lies in hotly contested waters in the South China Sea.
Photo: Bloomberg
The visit demonstrates the commitment of the Biden-Harris administration “to stand with our Philippine ally in upholding the rules-based international maritime order in the South China Sea,” a US official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
Harris, who is to meet a day earlier in Manila with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, would visit residents, civil society and the Philippine Coast Guard in Palawan’s capital, Puerto Princesa.
The trip would “reaffirm our defense commitments to the Philippines and the importance of our alliance in peace and stability in the South China Sea,” the official said.
Harris would also discuss countering illegal fishing and hold a separate event on women’s empowerment.
The US, which has a treaty alliance with its former colony, has been increasingly outspoken in supporting Southeast Asian nations in myriad disputes with a more assertive China.
China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea, while Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei have overlapping claims to parts of it.
Beijing has ignored a 2016 international tribunal ruling that its claims have no legal basis.
Unlike his predecessor, former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, who set aside his country’s legal victory, Marcos Jr has pledged to uphold the court decision and insisted he would not let China trample on the Philippines’ maritime rights.
Tensions between Manila and Beijing flared last year after hundreds of Chinese vessels were detected at Whitsun Reef in the Spratly Islands (南沙群島), which lie in the disputed waters.
In November last year, Chinese coastguard ships fired water cannon at Philippine boats delivering supplies to marines at Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the same archipelago.
The announcement of the Harris visit comes days after Biden met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of a G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia, where both leaders voiced hope for preventing tensions from spiraling out of control.
Biden is skipping the APEC summit to attend his granddaughter’s wedding.
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