U. S. foreign policy plays a major factor in this presidential election, as the wars in Gaza and Ukraine not only remain hot-button issues for American voters, but also remain a top fear for security experts who have their eyes on geopolitical rivals like Russia and China. .
Vice President Harris has tended to take a secondary role to President Biden when it comes to major American foreign policy issues, as is typical of any vice president, but her handling of the American immigration crisis has drawn condemnation from Republicans. in Congress.
Vice President Kamala Harris and migrants at the southern border (Getty Images)
HOW VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS GOT STARTED IN POLITICS
In 2021, Harris was dubbed the “Border Czar” by members of the Republican Party, and the media has continuously referred to her as such.
But Harris, who visited Guatemala in 2021 and Honduras in 2022, was allegedly never tasked with preventing border crossings, a precedent that falls within the purview of Interior Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Harris is tasked with addressing the fundamental reasons for mass migration from Central America’s Northern Triangle: Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.
Harris delivered one of her most powerful anti-mass migration messages on her 2021 vacation when she said the Biden administration was committed to helping Guatemalans find “hope at home. “
“I need to be transparent with the other people in this region who are undertaking this harmful adventure to the United States-Mexico border,” he said. “Don’t come. Don’t come. “
But migration across the southern border under Biden’s administration has intensified significantly, peaking in 2023 before slowing in 2024, and the factor remains a constant source of frustration within the GOP.
“She didn’t make any difference through her own objective measures,” Robert Greenway, director of the Heritage Foundation’s Allison Center for National Defense, told Fox News Digital. “She has done nothing to replace the fundamental reasons of Latin America. Therefore, it has had no effect on the immigration crisis, which remains a primary factor for voters. “
Harris’s stance on mass migration raises many questions about her ability to address other geopolitical issues.
THE SUDDEN MEDIA REJECTION OF KAMALA HARRIS’ “BORDER CZAR” LABELS
Vice President Kamala Harris talks about migrants heading to the United States at a news conference with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei on his stopover in Guatemala City, Guatemala, June 7, 2021. (Reuters/Carlos Barria)
Senior Biden administration officials say Harris has been deeply concerned about primary geopolitical issues such as the war in Ukraine, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said he believes foreign policy is Harris’s “forte. “
“I’ve seen it not only around the world, but also on the most critical foreign policy issues of our time in the White House Situation Room, in the Oval Office with the president,” Blinken told reporters for the last time. “And my opinion is that she is a very strong, very effective and highly reputable voice for our country around the world. ”
Last month, Harris traveled to Switzerland for the Ukraine Peace Summit, where she renewed her speech for Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky and the United States’ commitment to countering Russia.
“I met with President Zelensky for the first time in February 2022, just five days before Russia invaded Ukraine, a scandalous attempt to subjugate a loose people and an attempt to wipe a sovereign state off the map,” he declared in the summit.
“The United States supports Ukraine, not out of charity yet because it is in its strategic interest,” he added. “One of our defining missions is to maintain, defend and promote the rules-based foreign order. And this will undoubtedly be a precedent for all of us. “
Harris has visited Europe at least six times since arriving at the White House, joining the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Romania and France, where she has continually renewed the United States’ commitment to Ukraine and Washington to NATO.
His stance on NATO and Ukraine is unlikely to deviate from President Biden’s if he wins the White House in November, though he would arguably differ from the current administration in his stance on Israel.
KAMALA HARRIS SAYS RUSSIA WILL SUFFER SIGNIFICANT ECONOMIC COSTS IF IT INVADES UKRAINE: ‘FAST AND SERIOUS’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, looks at a map on his scale at the Ukrainian 110th Mechanized Brigade in Avdiivka, the site of heavy fighting with Russian troops in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on December 29, 2023 (Ukrainian Presidential Press Office via AP)
The war in Gaza has the ultimate divisive political factor within the Democratic Party, and Harris has vehemently condemned it.
After meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on July 25, Harris said they had a “frank and constructive meeting” in which he “reiterated his long-standing and unwavering commitment to the security of the ‘State of Israel. ‘
“I have said it many times, but it is worth repeating: Israel has the right to protect itself, and how it does so is important,” he said. “I also expressed to the Prime Minister my deep fear at the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of too many innocent civilians. And I have made transparent my deep fear at the terrible humanitarian scenario that exists there.
“We cannot become desensitized to suffering. And I will not remain silent. “
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House in Washington, D. C. , on July 25, 2024. (Amos Ben-Gershom (GPO)/Handout/Anadolu)
Despite Harris’ assurances that she will “always make sure Israel is protected,” Republicans remain skeptical about her stance on Israeli security.
In an interview with Fox News, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused Harris of talking to the pro-Hamas and pro-Palestinian electorate and “implicitly sending messages to Hamas leaders. “
But Blinken rejected complaints about Harris’ stance on the Gaza war, saying she was “deeply committed to the Middle East, seeking to find a nonviolent path forward. “
“What I observed is that someone who continually asked probing questions, got to the point and focused intensely on the interests of the American people,” he added.
NETANYAHU REPORTEDLY STOMPED ON HARRIS TO FOLLOW UP ON VP COMMENTS ON ISRAEL AS WHITE HOUSE REJECTS
Last week’s assembly reportedly marked only the second time Harris met with Netanyahu. The first occurred in 2017, when she was a senator from California.
Greenway, who also served as deputy assistant to the president and senior director for Middle East and North Africa affairs at the White House National Security Council during the Trump administration, said he expects Harris to be “more sensitive with the Palestinian aspect of the equation. “” and its technique for conflict resolution.
Smoke rises after the Israeli army launched an airstrike on Al Mughraqa’s domain in the Gaza Strip on April 14, 2024. (Ashraf Amra/Anadolu Getty Images)
Harris’s position regarding Iran, the main adversary in the Middle East given its risk of nuclear advance and its direct involvement in supporting Hamas, Hezebollah and the Houthi rebels opposed to Israel, as well as in supplying drones to Russia for its war in Ukraine. – do not deviate from Biden’s.
The vice president visited the Middle East twice while second-in-command, though both trips were to the United Arab Emirates, adding that a United Nations weather convention in 2023 and 2022 would offer his condolences on behalf of Biden’s administration. his death along with the former President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
In March 2023, Harris traveled to Ghana, Tanzania, and Zambia to meet with government leaders and business representatives as the United States sought to protect economic and security interests across Africa.
The White House said Harris’ vacation focused on efforts to promote “the virtual economy, help climate adaptation and resilience, and industry linkages and investment. “
He also raised considerations on food insecurity, which represents a major challenge for many African countries due to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Harris’ vacation is a testament to the Biden administration’s attempts to expand geopolitical ties on the continent, especially as Russia and China seek to improve their relations across Africa.
Vice President Kamala Harris greets Chinese President Xi Jinping before the APEC leaders’ retreat in Bangkok, Thailand, on Nov. 19, 2022. (White House/Reuters document)
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said his confidence in Harris’ talent to lead stems from the “vital” role she played in key defense meetings.
“She’s been an important asset to the entire team on this journey. That’s what I know from sitting in a room with her for three and a half years,” he told reporters.
Arguably the biggest incident of Biden’s administration was the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of thirteen U. S. soldiers.
While Biden has been the hardest hit by the criticism, Harris said in a 2021 interview with CNN that she was the “last” user in the room with the president before he made the resolution to withdraw all U. S. troops from Afghanistan, an admission that may simply spell trouble for the vice president on the campaign trail.
While the United States’ involvement in the Taliban-ruled country has decreased significantly, the Asian country, China, remains a major factor in this election cycle.
Harris has traveled to Asia several times during her tenure as vice president, adding to Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.
During her first vacation to the continent as vice president, Harris stopped in Indonesia, where she addressed issues similar to climate change, infrastructure and economic growth. But she also spoke of maritime security and “efforts to enforce foreign regulations and criteria in the region,” a message directed at Beijing.
Harris has not yet traveled to China on vacation, but she did meet briefly with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bangkok in 2022.
The Taliban are celebrating the first anniversary of their reconquest of Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US troops. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
The vice president engaged in difficult talks on China, accusing Beijing of “bullying” in the South China Sea and taking “de-risking” to further separate the United States from China.
“It’s not about pulling back, it’s about making sure that we respect American interests and that we’re a leader in terms of traffic regulations, rather than following other people’s regulations,” he told CBS in 2023.
“Surely we are in conditions and committed to what is mandatory to be competitive. “
But Greenway doesn’t think Harris is more likely to adopt a more difficult strategy to get to Beijing than Biden.
“[China] is exerting aggressive and pervasive influence against our partners and threatening to boost the expansion of its military,” Greenway said. “They have announced that they will increase their already significant production of nuclear weapons. And they are on track to prepare to impose a blockade or invade Taiwan in order to achieve reunification by 2027. “
Greenway is under pressure that those considerations would exist regardless of who holds the top job after the November election, but he also argued that “all of those risks don’t seem to have diminished” under the Biden administration.
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“I don’t think we can expect that to happen under the Harris administration,” he added.
Austin told reporters that Harris was a “key player” in implementing US geopolitical goals.
“This includes national security and foreign affairs,” he said. “She’s represented this country abroad several times and she’s done it in a very, very effective way. “
Caitlin McFall is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering US and political news.
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