HANOI, Aug 25 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Vice President Kamala Harris began a visit to Vietnam Wednesday to stress US commitment to Asia, a trip critics have slammed as tone-deaf given the parallels with the superpower’s evacuations from Saigon and Kabul.
Harris will meet the communist state’s president and prime minister in Hanoi, a day after accusing regional giant Beijing of intimidation in the disputed South China Sea.
Her arrival was delayed due to what US officials called an “anomalous health incident” in Hanoi, an apparent reference to the so-called “Havana syndrome” which has afflicted US diplomats in several countries including China and Russia.
It is not clear what causes the syndrome and it has led to unproven allegations that Russians or others used sonic or other high-intensity electronic devices to physically harm US diplomats.
The visit, the first to Vietnam by a sitting US vice president, comes after a two-day stop in Singapore, where Harris took aim at China and sought to shore up US credibility in the wake of the Taliban’s stunning return to power.
But the Vietnam leg of the Asian tour has sparked criticism after the chaotic evacuation of Kabul prompted comparisons with the trauma of 1975 Saigon, when US helicopters ferried final evacuees from the embassy roof in the last days of the Vietnam War.
Harris is steering clear of Saigon — now named Ho Chi Minh City — and on Wednesday she will seek to shift the focus from the historical parallels and emphasise Washington’s commitment to Southeast Asia as it opens a regional branch of the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Hanoi.
The United States has already donated five million doses of Covid-19 vaccines to Vietnam.
Harris is the latest top official from President Joe Biden’s team to visit the region as Washington seeks to reassure allies of its steadfastness.
But events in Afghanistan have cast doubts on US claims of reliability.
Pham Quang Vinh, Vietnam’s former ambassador to the United States, said the country was watching events in Kabul closely.
“The US has recommitted itself now to this region but if something happens in Afghanistan again, for example if terrorism comes back… will the US continue to focus here?” he said.
Vietnam has sought to forge its own path between the two superpowers and on Tuesday Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh met the Chinese ambassador and stressed Hanoi would not “align with one country against another”. — NNN-AGENCIES
