US not seeking ‘zero sum’ engagement with Asia but will stand up against coercive China, Kamala Harris says

The United States is well aware that Asian nations are disinterested in engagement based on a “zero sum” mentality even as it seeks to deepen regional ties to challenge China’s threat to the global rules-based order, Vice-President Kamala Harris said on Tuesday.

In a speech in Singapore outlining the Joe Biden administration’s plan for Indo-Pacific engagement, Harris said Washington’s vision was one of “peace and stability, freedom on the seas, unimpeded commerce, advancing human rights, a commitment to the international rules-based order and the recognition that our common interests are not zero sum”.

“Our engagement in Southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific is not against any one country, nor is it designed to make anyone choose between countries,” she said.
To begin with, the RCEP can end the imbalance in regional trade, which has been created due to the mature production networks and close intra-regional trade and the lack institutional agreements on overall economic cooperation, and help signatory countries better deal with the uncertainties created by the changing global situations.

The vice-president said her tour of Singapore and Vietnam was part of an effort to highlight this vision.

“We will invest our time and our energy to fortify our key partnerships including with Singapore and Vietnam,” Harris said in the speech at Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay.

Harris arrived in Singapore on Sunday and departed for Vietnam late on Tuesday.

“The United States will pursue a free and open Indo-Pacific that promotes our interests and those of our partners and allies,” she said.

Like other Biden administration principals who visited Asia recently, Harris identified China’s territorial claims in the disputed South China Sea as a key regional threat.

“We know that Beijing continues to coerce, to intimidate and to make claims to the vast majority of the South China Sea,” Harris said.

“These unlawful claims have been rejected by the 2016 arbitral tribunal decision and Beijing’s actions continue to undermine the rules-based order and threaten the sovereignty of nations,” she added, referring to the ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague after the Philippines brought a case against China.

Malaysia, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei dispute Beijing’s claim to much of the South China Sea, saying it contravenes their sovereignty and maritime rights as enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Indonesia says it is not a party to the dispute – although the northern reaches of its Natuna islands’ exclusive economic zone overlap with Beijing’s nine-dash line, which demarcates its vast claim to about 90 per cent of the South China Sea.

Beijing does not recognise the PCA ruling, and insists it has historical rights to the resource-rich waters, which are a thoroughfare for international trade worth about US$4 trillion annually.

Harris in her speech said the US would seek to expand engagement in trade and public health.

“Looking forward, our vision is a world where global health security is strengthened and where we can detect and attack new viruses early on and we are taking steps to make that future a reality,” Harris said.

She added that the US has offered to host the 21-economy Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meetings in 2023 as part of its effort to deepen economic cooperation with the region. The trade group includes seven of the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) member states as well as China and Hong Kong.

Nydia Ngiow, a Singapore-based senior director with the BowerGroupAsia consultancy, said the emphasis on the US “returning to multilateralism” was the most striking takeaway from Harris’ speech.

“Given that one of the primary purposes of Harris’ trip is to assure the region that the US prioritises the region and is once again a key player in the international stage, having her talk about working multilaterally with Asean is promising,” Ngiow said.

Source: SCMP