US Vice President Kamala Harris began a trip to Asia yesterday to offer reassurances of Washington’s commitment to the region after the chaotic US pullout from Afghanistan and Taliban takeover.
The Taliban’s swift return to power one week ago, along with scenes of thousands trying to flee, have cast a shadow over the US’ status as a global superpower.
On her visit, which includes stops in Singapore and Vietnam, Harris is attempting to allay concerns about US dependability.
Photo: AFP
“The vice president will make clear throughout the trip that we do have an enduring commitment to the region,” a senior US official said.
Harris, an Asian-American whose mother was of Indian origin, landed in Singapore yesterday and is scheduled to meet the city-state’s leaders today.
The Vietnam leg of her trip has sparked criticism, with some accusing Harris of being tone-deaf for visiting the communist country as US forces struggle to evacuate Americans, other foreigners and Afghan allies from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul.
The crisis has prompted comparisons with the trauma experienced during the US’ withdrawal from Vietnam in 1975, when US helicopters ferried evacuees from the Saigon embassy roof as Viet Cong troops advanced.
US officials say the trip was planned long before the Afghanistan withdrawal and insist Harris is focused on Washington’s broader strategic goals in Asia.
It is the latest visit by a top US official to the region, as US President Joe Biden’s administration looks to build alliances against China and reset relations after the turbulent leadership of his predecessor, former US president Donald Trump.
At a time when China is challenging US political sway and naval dominance in the Indo-Pacific region, Southeast Asia remains “strategically important and economically important to this country,” said a White House official, who asked not to be named. “That hasn’t changed with Afghanistan.”
The Indo-Pacific region is a growing battleground for influence between the US and China, and Washington has repeatedly criticized Beijing’s expansive claims to almost the entire South China Sea.
Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam have overlapping claims with Beijing in the flashpoint sea.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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