Watch: Joint press conference of Singapore PM Lee and US VP Harris

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and US Vice President Kamala Harris held a joint press conference on Monday (Aug 23) after meeting for talks in the morning.

Ms Harris is in Singapore for an official three-day visit, where she is looking to deepen bilateral cooperation in multiple areas.

During the press conference, Mr Lee announced that Singapore would offer its air force's multi-role tanker transport aircraft to help the US in the evacuation of refugees from Afghanistan, highlighting the several decades of cooperation between the two countries on air defence.

Mr Lee spoke about new areas of partnership, namely cybersecurity and climate, that Singapore and the US are embarking on. He also talked about how both countries are pursuing collaboration on the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, specifically in the areas of genome sequencing and epidemic intelligence.

Harris' answers to the questions was a word salad gobbledygook of nonsense.

Dawn Tan, CNA Media Corp.
Good afternoon Prime Minister and Madame Vice President... Madame Vice President, what's your message to America's partners about US commitments to its long-time allies in light of this issue [Afghanistan]?
Harris
The reason I am here is because the United States is a global leader, and we take that role seriously, understanding that we have many interests and priorities around the world.
I am here in Singapore as a reaffirmation to our commitment to our membership in the Indo-Pacific region, our partnership - longstanding partnership - with southeast Asia, and a long-standing relationship with Singapore as it relates to our issues, and our mutual issues, on security and economic strength and development, and now increasingly, global health.
So this visit, combined with the agreements we have made, and the work we continue to do as a nation to reinforce our commitment to these relationships, speak, I believe, volumes in terms of the integrity of the relationships the United States has around the world on many issues, based on our shared priorities and our shared vision of not only the challenges we face, but the future and the potential based on the opportunities that this moment also presents.
Nandita Bose, Reuters
Madame Vice President, we're in a situation where Afghans have been trampled, died as they rushed to free a nation where Americans fought for 20 years. American citizens are still stuck without safe passage. I understand that you agree with the decision to withdraw. But in your assessment, what went wrong with the withdrawal?
Harris
So, I... I... I understand and appreciate why you asked the question, and, um, I think there's going to be plenty of time to analyze what has happened and what has taken place in the context of the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
But right now we are singularly focused on evacuating American citizens, Afghans who worked with us, and Afghans who are vulnerable, including women and children, and that is our singular focus at this time, understanding that we have a priority in making sure that the people that, in particular, helped America achieve its responsibilities in terms of our priorities and the reason we went to Afghanistan in the first place, that we have a responsibility and we feel a deep commitment to making sure that folks who helped us are safe.
But there's no question that what many of us have seen on television, as the President has said, I mean, the President has, I think, shown great emotion in expressing, um, sadness about some of the images we have seen. But we cannot be, um, in any way, um, d-d-d-distracted in any way from what must be our primary mission right now, which is evacuating people from that region who deserve to be evacuated.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs, New York Times
Madame Vice President, a quick follow-up to my colleague's question... I understand what the focus is now, but given that the reality is that there are thousands of allies, as well as American citizens, that are still stuck in limbo, are you satisfied with the operational steps that were taken in this decision? Not the decision itself, but the operation steps that were taken? Does it meet your standard?
Secondly, China is already trying to use the situation in Afghanistan to drive a wedge between the US and its allies, to [unintelligible] those in the South China Sea region that the US cannot be counted on as a reliable long-term partner. Are you at all concerned the damage has already been done to US credibility worldwide, and how does the US, and specifically this administration, repair it?
Harris
So, I'll repeat what I said, um, which is that there's no question there will be, and should be, a robust analysis of what has happened. But right now, there's no question that our focus has to be on evacuating American citizens, Afghans who worked with us, and vulnerable Afghans including women and children. That has to be our primary focus and where we are placing our attention, on the issue of Afghanistan.
And on that end, we have seen a successful drawdown of the embassy, and thankfully, without any American casualties. We have seen thousands of people who have been... who have been evacuated from the airport in Afghanistan, where the United States military is doing very hard and difficult work. We were able to contain that airport so that we could successfully evacuate the people who have been evacuated so far.
So as the President has said, listen, this is a difficult mission. There's no question about that. But our focus has to be on the task at hand as it relates to America's relationships around the world.
I am standing here in Singapore because of our commitment to a long-standing relationship, which is an enduring relationship, with the Indo-Pacific region, with southeast Asian countries, and in particular with Singapore.
The agreements that the Prime Minister and I have reached today are evidence of that enduring relationship and commitment, and founded on the long-standing priorities that relate to our security interests and our economic issues, but also a commitment going forward as it relates to the challenges that we face in the 21st century and the challenges we are going to face moving forward, such as in the inevitable, which is future pandemics, and what we will do together to research and to do what we can to stop those pandemics from wreaking the kind of havoc on the world that COVID has.
A commitment moving forward to work together on the issue of cybersecurity, to work together on the issue of the climate crisis. All of these agreements are evidence of America's strength and enduring relationships around the globe, and in particular, our knowledge that as we move forward and think about where we go in the 21st century, southeast Asia and the Indo-Pacific will, in large part, I believe, dictate the future of our world and America's commitment then and partnerships with the country in this region and the countries in this region, are about where we are going and also founded on the relationships we have had in this region.
Lynette Lai, Singapore Press Holdings
I'd like to bring the bring the discussion back to the region and ask PM Lee and Vice President Harris how the US can work with Singapore and other partners to contribute to the broader stability and security of the region, and also to strengthen people to people ties?
Harris
The Prime Minister has said it well, which is that this is a relationship that is based on a shared vision, both in terms of the challenges we face but also the opportunities that we face to work together to meet those challenges. And it relates, again, to the historic relationship that we have on the issue of security and economic, um, strength.
But it is, it is also about what we can do to work together to discover th-th-the medicines that might attack and deal with the next virus. It is about th-th-the future in terms of our mutual commitment, curiosity and interest in wh-what we can do in space. It is about what we, in terms of shared values, for the need for universal norms on the issue of cybersecurity. It is about the interests that we have in being a global partner on the issue of-of-of vaccines, for example, and our shared commitment understanding that when we have the resources, that we will share them with the world.
These are the things that Singapore and the United States have in common, and with that common purpose, and with a similar approach to our responsibility to our own citizens, and our responsibility as a global citizen, I believe that with this commitment, as evidenced again by this visit today, we will continue to partner in a way that benefits not only Singaporeans and Americans, but the rest of the world.

-PJ

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.