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<h1 class="css-twhgrd">Pompeo urges more assertive
approach to 'Frankenstein' China</h1>
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<div class="css-7kp13n">By</div>
<div class="css-7ol5x1"><span class="css-fgeroe">David
Brunnstrom</span><span class="css-fgeroe">Daphne
Psaledakis</span></div>
<div class="css-8rl9b7">reuters.com</div>
<div class="css-zskk6u">4 min</div>
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<p>WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of
State Mike Pompeo took fresh aim at China on
Thursday and said Washington and its allies
must use “more creative and assertive ways”
to press the Chinese Communist Party to
change its ways, calling it the “mission of
our time.” </p>
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<p>Speaking at the Nixon Library in President
Richard Nixon’s birthplace in Yorba Linda,
California, Pompeo said the former U.S.
leader’s worry about what he had done by
opening the world to China’s Communist Party
in the 1970s had been prophetic. </p>
<p>“President Nixon once said he feared he had
created a ‘Frankenstein’ by opening the
world to the CCP,” Pompeo said. “And here we
are.” </p>
<p>Nixon, who died in 1994 and was president
from 1969-74, opened the way for the
establishment of U.S. diplomatic relations
with Communist China in 1979 through a
series of contacts, including a visit to
Beijing in 1972. </p>
<p>In a major speech delivered after
Washington’s surprise order this week for
China to close its Houston consulate, Pompeo
called for an end to “blind engagement” with
China and repeated frequently leveled U.S.
charges about its unfair trade practices,
human rights abuses and efforts to
infiltrate American society. </p>
<p>He said China’s military had became
“stronger and more menacing” and the
approach to Beijing should be “distrust and
verify,” adapting President Ronald Reagan’s
“trust but verify” mantra about the Soviet
Union in the 1980s. </p>
<p>“The truth is that our policies – and those
of other free nations – resurrected China’s
failing economy, only to see Beijing bite
the international hands that were feeding
it,” Pompeo said. </p>
<p>“The freedom-loving nations of the world
must induce China to change ... in more
creative and assertive ways, because
Beijing’s actions threaten our people and
our prosperity.” </p>
<p>Recalling remarks he made after meeting
British leaders in London this week, Pompeo
said “maybe it’s time for a new grouping of
like-minded nations, a new alliance of
democracies,” while adding: “If the free
world doesn’t change, Communist China will
surely change us.” </p>
<p>Pompeo said “securing our freedoms from the
Chinese Communist Party is the mission of
our time,” and America was perfectly
positioned to lead it. </p>
<p>He said one NATO ally, which he did not
name, was unwilling to stand up for freedom
in Hong Kong because it feared restricted
access to China’s market. </p>
<p>While some conservative commentators
praised Pompeo’s speech on social media and
elsewhere, some other analysts were not
impressed. </p>
<p>Scott Kennedy, of Washington’s Center for
Strategic and International Studies, said
cooperation with other democracies on China
would be easier said than done, given the
Trump administration’s record of dealing
with allies. </p>
<p>“How do you form a united front against
China when the U.S. is bullying its allies,
trashing multilateral institutions and
pushing an economic decoupling (from China)
that no one else supports?” he said. </p>
<h3>LOW POINT </h3>
<p>Pompeo’s speech comes at a time when
U.S.-China relations have dipped to their
lowest point in decades and President Donald
Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe
Biden have appeared to compete with each
other over who can appear toughest towards
Beijing ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential
election. </p>
<p>Ties have deteriorated over issues ranging
from the novel coronavirus pandemic, which
began in China, to Beijing trade and
business practices, its territorial claims
in the South China Sea and its clampdown on
Hong Kong. </p>
<p>In a dramatic escalation, Washington on
Tuesday gave China 72 hours to close its
Houston consulate. </p>
<p>Pompeo said the consulate had been “a hub
of spying and intellectual property theft.”
</p>
<p>China said the U.S. move had “severely
harmed” relations and warned it “must”
retaliate, without detailing what it would
do. </p>
<p>The South China Morning Post reported China
may close the U.S. consulate in the
southwestern city of Chengdu, while a source
told Reuters on Wednesday China was
considering shutting the consulate in Wuhan,
where the United States withdrew staff at
the start of the coronavirus outbreak. </p>
<p>Hu Xijin, editor of China’s Global Times
tabloid, posted on Twitter: “Based on what I
know, China will announce countermeasure on
Friday Beijing time. One U.S. consulate in
China will be asked to close.” </p>
<p>Earlier he said shutting the Wuhan
consulate would be insufficiently disruptive
and suggested China could cut U.S. staff at
its large consulate in Hong Kong, which he
called an “intelligence center.” </p>
<p>“This will make Washington suffer much
pain,” he wrote. </p>
<p>The other U.S. consulates in China are in
Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenyang. </p>
<p>China has four other consulates in the
United States - in San Francisco, Los
Angeles, Chicago and New York - as well as
an embassy in Washington. </p>
<p>Trump told a news briefing on Wednesday it
was “always possible” other Chinese missions
could be closed too. </p>
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<p>Richard Grenell, special presidential envoy
for Serbia and Kosovo who served until
recently as acting director of U.S. national
intelligence, told Reuters the U.S. strategy
was “very much start with one and move on to
others if need be.” </p>
<p>“The whole goal is to change the behavior
of the Chinese... this is emerging as the
Trump doctrine, which is very harsh actions,
sanctions and isolation while at the same
time always offering a chance to exit if the
behavior changes.” </p>
<p>Chinese state media editorials said the
Houston move was an attempt to blame Beijing
for U.S. failures ahead of Trump’s
reelection bid. Opinion polls have shown
Trump trailing Biden. </p>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 30-07-2020 17:15, R.O. wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:f5c5ff2d-f5fb-3569-5b62-d101bdc7d8fb@ziggo.nl">(Weer
eens wat anders dan covid-19...)
<br>
<br>
How the Cold War Between China and U.S. Is Intensifying - The New
York Times
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/world/asia/us-china-cold-war.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/world/asia/us-china-cold-war.html</a>
<br>
<br>
[...]
<br>
A widening battle over technology
<br>
<br>
China has long been accused by successive U.S. administrations of
stealing American technology. The Trump White House has escalated
the accusations further by seeking an international blacklisting
of Huawei, China’s largest technology company, calling it a front
for China’s efforts to infiltrate the telecommunications
infrastructure of other nations for strategic advantage.
<br>
<br>
The company’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, has been
detained in Canada since December 2018 on an extradition warrant
to the United States on fraud charges. Last week Britain declared
it was siding with the United States in barring Huawei products
from its high-speed wireless network.
<br>
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</blockquote>
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