While she’s met with all the leaders of Washington’s treaty allies in the Indo-Pacific, she’s had the most interactions with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Since Marcos took office in the Philippines, Harris has met with him six times, and the two have developed “a close personal relationship,” with him, per the official. She has also met with his vice president, Sara Duterte, and visited Palawan, a Philippines island in the South China Sea.
Meanwhile, Harris has met with Kishida five times since he became prime minister and hosted a luncheon alongside Secretary of State Antony Blinken during Kishida’s April state visit. She also led the official U.S. delegation to the September 2022 funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
That relationship-building with Tokyo and Manila, the official added, helped bring Japan and the Philippines closer on efforts to combat China in the Indo-Pacific.
She has also met or spoken with the leaders of Vietnam, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Singapore and South Korea over the last three years.
Multiple contacts in Israel
Among Middle Eastern countries, Harris has the closest connections with Israeli leaders. She’s met with and spoken with a litany of high-ranking Israeli officials, including former Prime Minister Yair Lapid, opposition leader Benny Gantz and Netanyahu since taking office.
Harris also sits in on Biden’s calls with Israeli officials, and she’s either been on the line or sitting in the room during Biden’s calls with Netanyahu, the White House said.
But her closest relationship is with Israeli President Isaac Herzog, the ceremonial leader of Israel. They met when she was a senator and he was then-opposition leader. Herzog gave her an extensive tour of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, during that trip, where he showed Harris the building’s art and sat with her in the gallery. According to Halie Soifer, who served as Harris’ national security adviser at the time, the two hit it off instantly.
“There was an instant rapport with Herzog,” said Soifer, who now serves as chief executive of the Jewish Democratic Council of America. “I know that they forged a connection that day, and that they have built upon that now that she’s in the White House, and he obviously is president.”
Harris has spoken to Herzog regularly following the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. They have held five calls since October, and she met with him in person at the Munich Security Conference this year.
In terms of Israel’s neighbors, Harris has met and spoken with the leaders of Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Egypt, among other Middle Eastern countries.
Chats with Zelenskyy
Harris has met with Zelenskyy six times. She met with him on the eve of Russia’s invasion at Munich and “shared our latest intelligence and strategized with Zelenskyy on how Ukraine should prepare for the imminent invasion,” per the White House official.
Harris was the last official to meet with Zelenskyy before Russia invaded in February 2022.
Ukraine is wasting no time in deepening its ties to Harris’ inner circle. Zelenskyy’s top adviser Andriy Yermak spoke on the phone with her national security adviser Phil Gordon on Tuesday. The two discussed conditions on Ukraine’s frontlines, Kyiv’s need for greater air defenses and the state of the peace process.
Limited engagement with adversaries and frenemies
Harris has only held one conversation with China’s Xi on the sidelines of the APEC summit in November 2022. And she hasn’t had any interactions with Russia’s Putin — though that’s in part due to the deteriorating nature of U.S.-Russia relations.
Still, that puts her at odds with some of her recent predecessors in the vice president role, who did have some interactions with U.S. adversaries. Vice President Mike Pence met with both Putin and Xi at the 2018 ASEAN summit and then-Vice President Biden met with Putin and Xi’s predecessor Hu Jintao during President Barack Obama’s first term.