US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has lashed out at China’s Communist Party for being “truly hostile to the United States,”
He accused the party of taking measures that challenged Washington’s interests and security and vowed to confront Beijing on multiple fronts
In a speech to the conservative Hudson Institute on Wednesday, Pompeo said: “It is no longer realistic to ignore the fundamental differences between our two systems, and the impact that these differences may have on American national security,” adding that “Today, we’re finally realizing the degree to which the Communist Party is truly hostile to the United States and our values”.
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Press TV reports: The US secretary of state said China had to be confronted rather than coddled on numerous fronts, including trade practices, human rights record and its claim on the South China Sea and toward Taiwan.
“They are reaching for and using methods that have created challenges for the United States and for the world and we collectively, all of us, need to confront these challenges… head on,” Pompeo said.
“The Chinese Communist Party is offering its people and the world an entirely different model of governance – it’s one in which a Leninist party rules and everyone must think and act according to the will of the Communist elites,” he further claimed. “It’s not a future that the freedom-loving people of China” want.
Sounding a similar theme last week, Vice President Mike Pence also attacked China’s record on human rights, trade and methods that Beijing used to expand its global influence.
China blasts Pompeo for ‘vicious’ speech
China shot back at Pompeo’s “vicious” speech against Beijing on Thursday and said his words revealed “arrogance and fear” of American officials.
“This deliberate distortion of the facts and slandering of China’s domestic and foreign policies fully exposes the deep political bias and anti-communist mindset of a small number of US politicians,” said foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at a press briefing in the capital, Beijing.
In a speech in Houston on Monday, China’s ambassador in Washington signaled his country would not take any criticism of the ruling party, which he said was “deeply trusted and widely supported by the Chinese people.”
“To draw a line between the Party and the people is to challenge the entire Chinese nation,” Cui Tiankai said, according to a copy of his remarks on the Chinese embassy’s website.
“Claiming to welcome a successful China on one hand, and defaming and working to overthrow the very force that leads the Chinese people towards success on the other, have you ever seen anything more hypocritical and outrageous than this?” Cui added.
The US-Chinese relationship have been strained over an array of issues including the trade war, US sanctions on China’s military, and US ties with Taiwan, which Beijing considers a renegade province.
The two countries are also at loggerheads primarily over Washington’s assertions that China uses predatory tactics, including technology theft, in a drive to become the global leader in robotics, self-driving cars and other advanced technology.
Trump launched a trade war with China last year to restrain China’s growing economic power.
The world’s two largest economies are trying to resolve the dispute that is slowing global economic growth, disrupting supply chains and roiling financial markets.
