MUNICH: US Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday sought to reassure allies rattled by the possible return of Donald Trump to the White House that the US would continue to take a leading role in the world.

The question of the United States commitment to its allies was high on the agenda at the Munich Security Confe­rence following remarks made by Trump on the campaign trail last Saturday.

“We must stand with our allies and that is what represents the ideals of America,” Harris said in a speech to 180 top Western diplomats and military officials at the annual event.

The former president had suggested the US should abandon Nato allies who did not meet their defence spending commitments.

The proposal sent shivers down the spine of European officials for whom the turbulence caus­ed by Trump’s first term in office was still fresh.

But Harris tried to calm the nerves ahead of US elections in November.

“In these unsettled times, it is clear America cannot retreat, America must stand strong for democracy,” Harris said, adding that it would be “foolish” for the US to isolate itself.

“America will continue to lead,” she vowed.

‘European pillar’

Trump’s outburst put a question mark over future US willingness to defend its allies, central to the Nato alliance.

In response, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned Trump not to “undermine” the alliance members’ collective security, while the European Union’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said Nato could not be an alliance “a la carte”.

New debate

Trump’s words have also fired a new debate within Europe over how best to organise its own defence.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock called on the EU on Friday to do more on common defence and security to “strengthen the European pillar of Nato”.

EU President Ursula von der Leyen also backed the ideas of creating a European defence commissioner following the European Parliament elections in June.

“People watching the US appear very nervous,” Comfort Ero, the head of think-tank Crisis Group, said in an interview.

“The US is still seen as an influential player... But I think increasingly there’s alarm, there’s concern, there is uneasiness, about the uncertainty, the unpredictability, just the polarisation, the division,” Ero said.

Ukraine support

Beyond Nato, allies are also concerned about the United States continued support for Ukraine, seen as vital to sustaining its war effort against Russia.

“A Trump victory would likely end White House support for Ukraine,” Rachel Tausendfreund form the German Marshall Fund of the United States wrote recently.

Washington’s support for Ukraine has already fallen foul of divisions in Congress, with a $60-billion package of military aid held up by Republican lawmakers.

But Harris said abandoning Kyiv would be a “gift to (Russian President) Vladimir Putin”.

“We will work to secure critical weapons and resources that Ukraine so badly needs,” she pledged in Munich.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who arrived in Munich on Thursday after a stopover in Albania, will also be on a mission to gainsay Trump’s message in bilateral meetings with European colleagues.

“Elections are elections, Trump is Trump,” Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Thursday, next to Blinken.

Wang, Blinken meet

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held “candid and constructive” talks with China’s top diplomat Wang Yi on Friday, during which he raised concerns over Beijing’s backing for Moscow in the war against Ukraine.

Blinken and Wang’s meeting, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, came after an extremely fraught period between the two giants over issues such as tensions over Taiwan and human rights.

Beijing and Washington have also been at odds over China’s detente with Russia.

But tensions have eased markedly over the past year as Washington pursued dialogue with Beijing.

Blinken underlined the “importance of continuing to implement the progress made” by a November summit between Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

He also raised the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea, added the spokesman.

On Russia, Blinken raised US concerns that Moscow was developing a space-based anti-satellite weapon.

Washington had made the claim about the “space-based” weapon on Thursday, something that Moscow denied, calling it “malicious”.

Although Beijing still resents US measures such as the banning of exports of advanced semiconductors, relations between the two giants have stabilised somewhat since Biden met Xi in San Francisco in November.

Making good on a commitment made during the summit, a US delegation held an inaugural meeting this month in China on the flow of fentanyl, the powerful painkiller behind an addiction epidemic in the United States.

US officials believe China wants to focus on economic headwinds at home and feel that it acted with comparative moderation during last month’s elections in Taiwan.

Published in Dawn, February 17th, 2024