South China Sea: Trump’s national security adviser heads to Vietnam, Philippines in last-gasp anti-China push
- Robert O’Brien is expected to meet Vietnamese PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc and other ministers, along with national security officials in the Philippines
- Move is aimed at cementing Trump’s legacy of countering Beijing’s territorial ambitions and providing Biden with a ‘fait accompli’, analysts say
O’ Brien is expected to be in Hanoi on Friday and Saturday for meetings with Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, Defence Minister Ngo Xuan Lich and Public Security Minister To Lam. He will then head to Manila.
On Wednesday night, tweets from the White House National Security Council said O’Brien was enroute to Asia and would meet leaders in the Philippines and Vietnam to “reaffirm the strength of our bilateral relationships and to discuss regional security cooperation”.
His trip follows a visit to Hanoi last month by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Pompeo, on a visit to the Philippines last year, said that Washington would defend it if it came under attack in the South China Sea, where Manila has competing claims with China and other countries, including Vietnam.
Pham Quang Minh, former rector of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities at the Vietnam National University in Hanoi, told This Week in Asia that O’Brien would also talk with students at the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam.
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Washington’s hardened position on Beijing’s claims in South China Sea heightens US-China tensions
