ANALYSIS US VPs tend to travel more to Europe, South Korea and Japan

JD Vance is only the second VP since 1992 to visit India

The US vice-presidents tend to travel far and wide, but a Moneycontrol analysis shows that the visits are mostly confined to NATO partners, South Korea and Japan.

However, when US VPs do tend to a take a trip to India it is usually a four-day affair.

US Vice President JD Vance, on his third official visit, landed up in India for a four-day visit on April 21. The visit comes 12 years after Joe Biden visited India for four days in 2013 as vice-president.

Joe Biden was the first VP in over three decades to visit the country after Dan Quayle, who attended former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s funeral in 1991.

George HW Bush, who served as vice president during the Reagan era, visited India between May 12-15, 1984.

However, South Asia is the last thing to make it to itineraries of US vice presidents. For instance, none of the South Asian nations made it to the list of countries visited by former VPs Kamala Harris and Mike Pence. While Biden did visit Pakistan and India, Dick Cheney, the VP during George W Bush eight years in office, only made a trip to Pakistan.

Asia, as a whole, takes less time than other parts of the world, especially Middle East and Europe, as per analysis.

While former VP Kamala Harris did take the first official trip by any VP to Vietnam, the time spent in Asia, barring Korea and Japan, was less than the time spent during her travels to Europe.

So, where do VPs travel?

South Korea, Japan, United Kingdom, France and Germany are countries that no vice-president has missed over the last four decades in office.

Trips to Singapore are also a common feature, along with a tour of Latin American allies.

Israel, being a large caucus and voting bloc in the United States, has been a regular feature of American VP’s itinerary.

How much do they travel?

Covid restrictions kept Kamala Harris from travelling, but the average trips made by VPs are over six per year. Joe Biden visited over 50 countries in his eight years in office, while Pence made trips to nearly two dozen countries.