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WASHINGTON, DC – NOVEMBER 17: National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien removes his face covering while speaking to reporters outside the West Wing of the White House on November 17, 2020 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer / Getty Images / AFP
WASHINGTON – White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien is on his way to Vietnam and the Philippines, countries that share the United States’ concern about China’s increasingly assertive behavior and extensive maritime claims in Asia. the White House said Wednesday.
Tweets from the White House National Security Council said O’Brien would meet with leaders of both countries “to reaffirm the strength of our bilateral relations and discuss regional security cooperation.”
O’Brien’s trip follows a visit to Hanoi last month by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. That visit came a week after Vietnam released a Vietnam-born US citizen, Michael Nguyen, who had been sentenced to 12 years in prison for “attempting to overthrow the state.”
Former enemies of the Vietnam War now have warm relations despite US concerns about Hanoi’s human rights practices.
Washington is also concerned about human rights in the Philippines, where President Rodrigo Duterte has been involved in a war on drugs in which thousands of urban poor have been killed, many under mysterious circumstances.
On a visit last year, Pompeo assured the Philippines that Washington would come to their defense if attacked in the South China Sea, where Manila has claims that compete with China and other countries, including Vietnam.
The government of US President Donald Trump, who was defeated in his reelection bid on November 3 and is due to hand over power to President-elect Joe Biden on January 20, had declared that Asia-Pacific and competition with China they were foreigners. political priority.
Trump faced criticism from former officials and other commentators for O’Brien participating in his place in the virtual East Asia Summit last weekend, on the sidelines of which 15 countries, including Vietnam and the Philippines, signed a major regional trade agreement. backed by China. .
Trump plans to represent the United States at a virtual Asia-Pacific summit this week in which his Chinese counterpart, President Xi Jinping, plans to participate, a US official told Reuters.
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