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HANOI: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is wrapping up an Asia tour in Vietnam as the fierce US presidential election race enters its home stretch.
With just four days left for the campaign in which China has been a central issue, Pompeo was visiting Hanoi on Friday (October 30) ostensibly to celebrate 25 years of US-Vietnam relations. But as he has done in his previous stops in India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia, Pompeo is expected to highlight the Trump administration’s antipathy towards China, its handling of the coronavirus pandemic, its human rights record and its aggressiveness towards your smaller neighbors.
Those issues, particularly the Chinese origin of the virus, have been highlighted by President Donald Trump in his bid to defeat a tough reelection challenge from former Vice President Joe Biden in the Nov.3 polls. Trump has tried to paint Biden as weak to and indebted to China, repeatedly raising questions about alleged connections between Biden’s son Hunter and Chinese companies.
Vietnam was a late addition to Pompeo’s itinerary and he has numerous concerns about Chinese policies in the region. These range from Beijing’s territorial and maritime claims in the South China Sea to its development activities along the Mekong River, which runs through much of mainland Southeast Asia and is a regional lifeline.
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SOUTH CHINA SEA CLAIMS
In a statement issued before Pompeo’s arrival in Vietnam, the State Department attacked China for failing to fulfill its promises of cooperation with other Mekong countries and for aggressively pursuing suspicious claims in the South China Sea.
“China’s evil and destabilizing actions in the Mekong region, including manipulating the Mekong River’s water flows, negatively affect millions of people who depend on the river for their livelihoods,” he said.
“The United States supports our Indo-Pacific allies and partners in protecting their sovereign rights over offshore resources in the South China Sea, consistent with their rights and obligations under international law,” he said. He noted that earlier this year, Pompeo had roundly rejected almost all of Beijing’s maritime claims in the South China Sea.
“The United States rejects (China’s) maritime claims on the waters surrounding Vanguard Bank off the coast of Vietnam,” the statement said, “we will oppose any effort aimed at undermining the rules-based maritime order in the Sea of South China or elsewhere. “
China has forged ahead with attempts to enforce its claims over much of the South China Sea and has ignored an arbitration ruling won by the Philippines that invalidates China’s claims.
Pompeo came to Vietnam from Indonesia, where he praised the Indonesian leadership in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for rejecting what he called China’s “illegal” claims about the South China Sea and denouncing Beijing for its treatment of religious minorities. , calling it “the most serious threat”. to the future of religious freedom “.
Pompeo had traveled to Indonesia from the Maldives, Sri Lanka and India on stopovers where he steadily increased pressure on China, which has rejected US concerns and accused him and others in the Trump administration of fanning the flames of a new Cold War. .
READ: Pompeo and Esper promote the anti-China message of the United States in the visit to India
In the Maldives, Pompeo announced that the United States would open an embassy in the Indian Ocean archipelago for the first time, a move that reflects America’s growing concern over growing Chinese influence and what he called “their illegal and threatening behavior” in the Indus. -Peaceful. region.
INDOPACIFIC STRATEGY
Just hours earlier, in Sri Lanka, Pompeo had accused China of being a “predator” in smaller countries by exploiting them with loans and development projects intended to benefit the Chinese more than their intended recipients.
On their first stop on the tour in India, Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper had stepped up the administration’s anti-China message by playing on Indian suspicions about the Chinese to shore up a regional front against Beijing in the Indo-Pacific.
Just hours before the meetings in New Delhi began, the Trump administration notified Congress of plans for a $ 2.37 billion sale of Harpoon missile systems to Taiwan, the second major arms sale in two weeks to the democratic island. that Beijing considers a renegade province. China reacted angrily by announcing sanctions on US defense contractors.
