Chinese citizens express anger over Kamala Harris Asia trip: ‘Why did she head to China’s backyard?’

Kamala Harris’s ongoing tour in southeast Asia has caused a stir on Chinese social media platforms, after her first speech in Singapore mentioned reaffirming America’s commitment to the region.

The US vice president is in Singapore on the first leg of her most high-profile trip to Asia yet, which will focus on defending international rules in the South China Sea, expanding security cooperation and strengthening US regional leadership, a White House official said.

In her first address during the trip, Ms Harris launched an offensive against China, accusing Beijing of “coercion and intimidation” in the South China Sea, which has been a major flashpoint of Beijing’s assertiveness for years.

“We know that Beijing continues to coerce, to intimidate and to make claims to the vast majority of the South China Sea,” she said on Tuesday in Singapore in her speech to lay out the Biden administration’s vision for the Indo-Pacific region.

“Beijing’s actions continue to undermine the rules-based order and threaten the sovereignty of nations,” she added.

Her week-long tour has been overshadowed by the US’s hurried exit from Afghanistan has spurred an ongoing humanitarian crisis, with scenes of chaos at the national capital Kabul’s airport as people attempt to flee Taliban rule.

Several users on Chinese social media platforms slammed Ms Harris for her visit and questioned the timing of her tour, asking why she did not visit Afghanistan instead.

“Why did she head to China’s backyard?” a Weibo user said.  Another hit out at the US, saying the country has made “countless promises in the past that it had not kept” and now the vice president is on a tour “to stir up trouble and sow discord”.

The Chinese foreign ministry’s spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Monday addressed Ms Harris’s visit, saying:  “China always holds that exchanges between countries should be conducive to promoting mutual trust, and peace and stability in the region and the world at large.”

Mr Wang, however, also said the US has done “unscrupulous and dishonest things” in Afghanistan and called on the nation to help rebuild.

“The United States is the root cause and the biggest external factor in the Afghan issue,” he said. “It cannot just run away like this.”

Ms Harris met with Singapore president Halimah Yacob and prime minister Lee Hsien Loong on Monday. The vice president’s office announced a number of agreements that emerged from that meeting, including combating cyber threats, tackling climate change, addressing the Covid-19 pandemic and alleviating supply chain issues.

Her speech sought to cement the US commitment to supporting its allies in an area of growing importance to the Biden administration, which has made countering China’s influence globally a centrepiece of its foreign policy.

During her address in Singapore, Ms Harris was also criticised for her not mentioning the Afghanistan’s crisis following the US pulled out. She briefly affirmed US’s commitment to ensure safe evacuation of people only after the country’s prime minister said things went “awry” in Kabul.

“There’s no question there will be and should be a robust analysis of what has happened,” she said at a press conference in Singapore. “But right now there’s no question that our focus has to be on evacuating American citizens, Afghans who worked with us and vulnerable Afghans, including women and children.”

Additional reporting by agencies