(CNN) — US Vice President Kamala Harris will visit the Philippine island of Palawan next week during her trip to Asia, a senior administration official told CNN.
It’s a move that could create tension with China due to its proximity to the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. The official says Harris, who will visit Palawan next Tuesday, will be the highest-ranking US official to ever visit the island.
Her visit will come a little more than a week after President Joe Biden’s three-hour, in-person meeting with China’s President Xi Jinping, which appeared to cool some of the temperature between the competing nations.
Beijing claims control over nearly the entire South China Sea. China’s claims there extend nearly all the way to the Philippines and include groups of contested islands like the Spratly Islands.
But, as CNN has previously reported, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines also have claims in the Spratly chain, where China has transformed obscure reefs and sandbars into man-made artificial islands, fortified with missiles, runways and weapons systems.
Harris will meet with “residents, civil society leaders, and representatives of the Philippines Coast Guard,” the senior administration official noted. And she will “reiterate the importance of international law, unimpeded commerce, and freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.”
Reuters was first to report Harris’ visit.
