Chinese state media on Wednesday accused US Vice President Kamala Harris of seeking to drive a wedge between China and its Southeast Asian neighbours with her comments that Beijing used coercion and intimidation to back its South China Sea claims.

Harris made the comments in a speech in Singapore on Tuesday as part of a seven-day regional visit aimed at pivoting the United States back to Asia and countering China’s growing influence.

“While pointing a finger at China and accusing it of ‘coercion’ and ‘intimidation’, Harris wilfully ignored her own hypocrisy in attempting to coerce and intimidate regional countries to join Washington in its scheme to contain China,” the state run China Daily said in an editorial.

Harris’ Singapore speech was a baseless attack on China, the editorial said. “It seems that the United States’ only commitment to Southeast Asia is its dedicated efforts to drive a wedge between the Southeast Asian nations and China,” it added.

The US administration has called rivalry with China “the biggest geopolitical test” of the century and Southeast Asia has seen a series of high-profile visits by top administration officials, including Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who visited Hanoi in late July.