How Kamala Harris Sees the World: From Gaza and Russia to China and India | 2024 US Election News
Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday solidified her status as the frontrunner to succeed President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee in November’s election, winning a wave of support from governors, elected officials and state leaders.
Chief among those endorsements has been Biden’s unwavering support for his candidacy, which he made clear even as he announced Sunday that he would no longer seek the party’s nomination, after weeks of pressure to step down.
Harris will still have to formally clinch the nomination, likely at the Democratic National Convention in August, and not all potential challengers to the nomination have followed suit — at least so far.
Yet Harris, 59, could be poised to become the first black woman to lead a major party’s presidential ticket, putting her stance on key global issues under scrutiny.
So where has Harris stood on major foreign policy issues and the countries involved?
Harris’ Position on Israel’s War on Gaza
Analysts expect Harris, if elected, to largely continue Biden’s approach to the Gaza war: She has repeatedly pledged support for Israel’s security and self-defense, while expressing sympathy for Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
Harris has defended Israel’s right to self-defense. In December 2023, she said at a briefing: “Israel has the right to defend itself. And we (Biden and Harris) will remain steadfast in that belief” and “we support Israel’s legitimate military objectives to eliminate the threat from Hamas.”
This week, Harris is scheduled to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during his visit to the United States.
At the same time, at the December briefing, she said: “As Israel pursues its military objectives in Gaza, we believe Israel must do more to protect innocent civilians.”
On March 4, Harris called for an immediate truce in Gaza, adding that Israel must improve the flow of humanitarian aid into the enclave.
The deaths of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza, including an American, are devastating. They must be investigated promptly and steps taken to ensure this never happens again.
Israel must do more to protect aid workers who…
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) April 3, 2024
On April 14, Harris posted a message on X a day after Iran’s attacks on Israel, saying, “Our support for Israel’s security is unwavering.”
President Biden and I met with our national security team following Iran’s attacks on Israel. Our support for Israel’s security is unwavering, and we stand with the Israeli people to defend them against these attacks. pic.twitter.com/jG8La2mHnk
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) April 14, 2024
What about the war between Russia and Ukraine?
Consistent with Biden’s position, Harris strongly supports Ukraine’s self-defense efforts against Russia. Harris is also, like Biden, a strong supporter of NATO.
In June, she met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the Ukraine Peace Summit in Switzerland.
“Russia’s aggression is not only an attack on the life and freedom of the Ukrainian people, it is not only an attack on global food security and energy supplies,” she said at the summit’s opening plenary session.
At the summit, Harris also announced that the United States would provide $1.5 billion through the U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. State Department to strengthen Ukraine’s energy sector.
At the Munich Security Conference in February, she condemned Russia’s war against Ukraine and pledged “unwavering” US compliance with NATO’s Article 5, under which any attack on one member of the alliance obliges all other nations in the group to join the conflict.
What is Harris’ position on China?
Harris is expected to remain consistent with Biden’s China policy, focusing on reducing Chinese influence, particularly in Asia.
In September, she attended a summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. During the summit, she accused China of imposing its territorial claims in the South China Sea on its smaller neighbors. Biden also asked Harris to visit Japan and South Korea, two key allies in the region.
During the 2020 vice presidential debate, she criticized former President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports, accusing the Republican of losing a trade war with China and causing hundreds of thousands of job losses — though some analysts say those jobs were lost because of COVID-19, not Trump’s policies. Those tariffs have largely remained in place under the Biden administration.
Harris has also supported Taiwan and is expected to continue to do so if she becomes president. In September 2022, she pledged to “continue to support Taiwan’s self-defense, consistent with our longstanding policy.”
What is his position on India?
Harris’s position on India has changed over the past five years.
On many occasions, during her public appearances, the daughter of a mother of Indian origin and a father of Jamaican origin has mentioned her Indian heritage and the importance that country has for her.
In 2019, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked Article 370, ending the semi-autonomous status of Indian-administered Kashmir. Harris criticized the move, saying, “We need to remind Kashmiris that they are not alone in the world.” She was a senator from California at the time and a potential Democratic candidate in the 2020 election.
However, with Biden taking office, Harris’ approach to India has changed. In 2021, she met Modi in public and praised India’s role in producing COVID-19 vaccines.
The US and India share common concerns about China, making India a strategic partner of the US in Asia. Biden has concluded a series of defense and technology deals with Modi during his tenure.
In 2023, Harris hosted Modi at a state luncheon where she thanked the Indian prime minister for his “leadership role in helping India emerge as a global power in the 21st century,” praising his leadership at the Group of 20 summit last year.
