Joe Biden sends Kamala Harris to Munich security conference

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden is sending vice-president Kamala Harris to

Munich

next week for a major annual security conference to reinforce American equities in Europe and state its case in its stand-off with

Russia

over

Ukraine

, furthering buttressing her foreign policy credentials for a domestic audience.

Harris' assignment to the Munich Security Conference, scheduled to take place February 18-20, “will demonstrate our ironclad commitment to our NATO Allies, reaffirm our shared interest in upholding the principles that have underpinned European peace and security since World War II, and underscore our commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the White House said in a statement.

Biden himself addressed the conference, one of the foremost gathering in the world of strategic boffins, virtually last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Harris’ trip will be the latest high-profile travel she has undertaken topping her trip to Paris in November to repair ties with France and to Mexico and Guatemala last June to address the “root causes” of illegal immigration, among jobs she has been assigned by Biden. This is in addition to several heavyweight domestic assignments, including shepherding voting rights laws, election reform, and Covid vaccine distribution, work that challenges the pillorying from the right that she is a lightweight vice-president -- when it is not concerned that he is a stand-in president.

Earlier this month, Biden also said Harris would have a say in the nomination of a new Supreme Court justice, given her legal background and her being a former member of the Senate Judicial Committee.

Separately, the White House also announced that it will host of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting in 2023, "underscoring our commitment to advance fair and open trade and investment, bolster American competitiveness, and ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific."

White House spokesperson

Jen Psaki

said President Biden and Vice President Harris offered to host APEC next year "because of our focus on expanding and deepening economic ties in the region."

India requested for membership in APEC is still pending despite initial support from the United States, Japan, and Australia. Chinese analysts have argued that India does not deserve a membership because it does not share a border with Pacific Ocean, and that if India is admitted as a member, Pakistan has a case too.