China slams ‘selfish’ US policy
China yesterday held up America's chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan as an example of Washington's "selfish" foreign policy, hitting back at Vice President Kamala Harris's accusations of intimidation in Asian waters.
During a trip to Singapore Harris took aim at Beijing for making claims to "the vast majority of the South China Sea" as she sought to reassure regional allies of America's commitment to Asia and binding international rules.
Her comments in Singapore came as Washington seeks to reset relations in Asia after the turbulent Donald Trump era and build a bulwark against the rising might of Beijing.
But her trip to the region, which also includes a stop in Vietnam, comes as Washington faces fresh questions over its dependability amid the US pullout from Afghanistan and Taliban takeover.
In a speech laying out her administration's foreign policy goals, Harris reiterated that Washington had "enduring commitments" in Asia -- and took aim at China.
"Beijing continues to coerce, to intimidate and to make claims to the vast majority of the South China Sea," she said.
"Beijing's actions continue to undermine the rules-based order and threaten the sovereignty of nations."
But Beijing hit back, holding up the Afghan debacle as an example of the United States' "selfish" foreign policy, and accusing Washington of "bullying, hegemonic behaviour".
"The current events in Afghanistan clearly tell us what the rules and order the US speaks of are," China's foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.
"The US can wantonly conduct military intervention in a sovereign country and does not need to be responsible for the suffering of the people in that country," Wang said.
China claims almost all of the resource-rich South China Sea, through which trillions of dollars in shipping trade passes annually, with competing claims from four Southeast Asian states as well as Taiwan.
Harris is the latest top official from President Joe Biden's administration to visit the region. On a trip to Singapore last month, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin also strongly criticised China's maritime claims.
The US-China relationship has deteriorated over a range of issues from cybersecurity and tech supremacy to human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.
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