Aug. 26 (UPI) — U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday completed her visit to Southeast Asia with a news conference in Vietnam, in which she said she raised concerns about human rights issues and other restrictions with leaders in Hanoi.
Harris arrived in Vietnam late on Tuesday and met Wednesday with Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc and Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh.
In her remarks Thursday, Harris detailed discussions she had with both leaders following prompting from groups like Freedom House to hold Vietnam accountable for stifling freedoms of expression and religion and curtailing social activism.
Journalists, bloggers and human rights activists often face arrests, criminal convictions and physical assaults in the communist nation.
“In my meetings, I made clear the importance that the United States places on human rights,” Harris told reporters in Hanoi. “We will always be true to our values and will not shy away from speaking out, even when those conversations may be difficult to have and perhaps difficult to hear.”
The vice president praised more than 20 years of diplomatic relations between the United States and Vietnam, which re-established formal ties in 1995, two decades after the end of the Vietnam War.
“The country of Vietnam holds a particular importance and significance to the United States,” she added.
Vietnam was the second and final stop in Harris’ Southeast Asia trip. She spent a couple days in Singapore early this week. At both stops, she pledged U.S. support for both governments in the face of what some consider rising aggression in the region from China.
“Whether in Singapore or Vietnam, Southeast Asia or the Indo-Pacific region, the United States intends to strengthen our participation and partnership with our partners and allies, and further and strengthen our interests in a way that is collaborative, meeting the challenges of the moment and the challenges of tomorrow, together,” Harris said.
In her remarks, Harris didn’t disclose how Phuc and Chinh responded to the administration’s overtures.
Harris added that she helped deliver 1 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in Vietnam on Thursday, in addition to the 5 million already given by the United States.
“I say this to the people of Vietnam … we now are here for you in this moment of need,” she said.
“We are also supplying freezers to distribute the vaccines, and providing millions in public health assistance — millions of dollars in public health assistance. And we opened a new CDC Southeast Asia regional office.”