Additional members of the delegation will be announced at a later date, the official added. And local outlets in Asia reported last month that US officials had begun preparations for the vice president’s visit. Harris will be in Asia from September 25 to 29, first traveling to Tokyo, Japan, and then making a second stop in Seoul, South Korea. In both places, Harris will meet with “senior government officials and civil society representatives in a series of engagements that will underscore the strength of the United States’ alliances with Japan and the Republic of Korea,” the official said. A source familiar with the planning told CNN that Harris is expected to meet with both Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yun Suk-yeol. President Joe Biden asked Harris to lead the delegation, the source said. Abe, 67, died in July after being shot while giving a campaign speech on a street in Nara, Japan. Biden, at the time, mourned his death saying he was “surprised, outraged and deeply saddened” by the news of his “friend’s” death. “Above all, [Abe] he cared deeply for the Japanese people and devoted his life to their service. “Even as he was being attacked, he was engaged in the work of democracy,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House. two days after his death and visited the Japanese embassy to sign a condolence book later that day. And it will be the second time the vice president has gone to Asia since taking office. Harris is the first black and South Asian woman to hold the office in the US. In August 2021, Harris visited Southeast Asia amid the administration’s first major foreign policy crisis since the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. And her departure from Singapore for her second stop in Vietnam was delayed several hours after her office was informed of a “report of a recent possible abnormal health incident”. That term is how the government usually refers to the mysterious Havana syndrome that has sickened hundreds of American officials in recent years. Harris held a series of events aimed at strengthening ties with regional partners and focused on regional security issues amid concerns over China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. economic priorities, including supply chain issues such as global chip production; climate change; and the Covid-19 pandemic. Officials see this trip as building on the important work done during her first trip and another foray into the world stage, the source told CNN. In addition to Asia, Harris has traveled to Latin America and Europe numerous times. He has also engaged with more than 100 world leaders while in office. Biden ventured to Asia in early 2022, using a high-level summit of Indo-Pacific leaders in part to warn China about its stance on Taiwan. Since his trip, tensions have continued to rise in US-China relations. China spent several days in August conducting military exercises that effectively encircled Taiwan after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei. Biden was pressed over the weekend about whether he would see Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit later this year in Indonesia, telling reporters: “If he’s there, I’m sure I’ll see him.” But for Harris’ trip later this month, the White House official said her events would signal “our continued commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific and our shared economic and security interests in the region and across the people”.
