Pompeo urges more assertive approach to 'Frankenstein' China

[webfact]

Pompeo urges more assertive approach to 'Frankenstein' China

By David Brunnstrom and Daphne Psaledakis

 

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, in Yorba Linda, California, U.S., July 23, 2020. Ashley Landis/Pool via REUTERS

 

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."

 

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.

 

"President Nixon once said he feared he had created a 'Frankenstein' by opening the world to the CCP," Pompeo said. "And here we are."

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

"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.

 

"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."

 

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."

 

Pompeo said "securing our freedoms from the Chinese Communist Party is the mission of our time," and America was perfectly positioned to lead it.

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.

 

While some conservative commentators praised Pompeo's speech on social media and elsewhere, some other analysts were not impressed.

 

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.

 

"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.

 

LOW POINT

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.

 

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.

 

In a dramatic escalation, Washington on Tuesday gave China 72 hours to close its Houston consulate.

 

Pompeo said the consulate had been "a hub of spying and intellectual property theft."

 

China said the U.S. move had "severely harmed" relations and warned it "must" retaliate, without detailing what it would do.

 

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.

 

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."

 

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."

 

"This will make Washington suffer much pain," he wrote.

 

The other U.S. consulates in China are in Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenyang.

 

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.

Trump told a news briefing on Wednesday it was "always possible" other Chinese missions could be closed too.

 

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."

 

"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."

 

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.

 

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom and Daphne Psaledakis; Editing by Mary Milliken, Lincoln Feast and Grant McCool)

 

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-07-24

 

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[pgrahmm]

By most any measure China is a rogue state spreading it's tentacles physically, economically, and brutishly.....

[Enzian]

The South China Morning Post, mentioned in this article, had a piece a few days ago in which one of its writers speculated that the virus that hit northern Italy did not originate in Wuhan China, but rather somewhere in eastern Europe. This is just one small example of the fact that this tiger does not want to change its stripes. 

Until this year I spent about a third of my time in Europe every year. Now, at 80, I may never be able to do that again in my remaining years. I'm glad to be in LOS where my friends are, and no virus for now, but I take this situation very personally, on an emotional level. Would that the whole world did.

[rabas]

Frankenstein. The head bolted on top with sparking electrodes is the CCP. Fix that and all is well. 1.31 billion Chinese do not belong to the communist party. They deal with Frankenstein every day, something our local reps avoid discussing.

 

Edited July 24, 2020 by rabas

[TooBigToFit]

Frankenstein regime in US calling someone else Frankenstein?

[spiekerjozef]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

Pompeo said "securing our freedoms from the Chinese Communist Party is the mission of our time," and America was perfectly positioned to lead it.

Fighting communism again? We already know how that ends...

[Eric Loh]

Pompeo is like the boy who continue to call wolf repeatedly till no one bother to take attention. 

[PatOngo]

5 minutes ago, TooBigToFit said:

Frankenstein regime in US calling someone else Frankenstein?

Who's side would you rather be on? Can you speak Mandarin and eat bats?

[PatOngo]

3 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Pompeo is like the boy who continue to call wolf repeatedly till no one bother to take attention. 

Nihao ma!

[rudi49jr]

For once I do agree with Pompeo, to some extent at least, but of course it’s a clear cut case of the pot calling the kettle black. I mean, the USA have been the world’s super power for decades, and I imagine it has done a lot of nasty things to get there and to remain in that position. 

[Brunolem]

3 hours ago, TooBigToFit said:

Frankenstein regime in US calling someone else Frankenstein?

Reminds of these 70s movies, such as Dracula (think USA) vs Frankenstein (think China).

 

[Brunolem]

5 hours ago, pgrahmm said:

China is a rogue state spreading it's tentacles physically, economically, and brutishly.....

Reminds me of another country...I just can't put my finger on it...I am going to think hard, the name will sure come back to my mind...

[stevenl]

36 minutes ago, rudi49jr said:

For once I do agree with Pompeo, to some extent at least, but of course it’s a clear cut case of the pot calling the kettle black. I mean, the USA have been the world’s super power for decades, and I imagine it has done a lot of nasty things to get there and to remain in that position. 

Yes, something should be done. But is should be done in coordination with EU and others, and US's recent behaviour had made that a near impossible scenario.

[Boon Mee]

4 hours ago, spiekerjozef said:

Fighting communism again? We already know how that ends...

Too many examples although the fall of the Berlin Wall comes to mind. 

 

MAGA 

[Enzian]

1 hour ago, rudi49jr said:

For once I do agree with Pompeo, to some extent at least, but of course it’s a clear cut case of the pot calling the kettle black. I mean, the USA have been the world’s super power for decades, and I imagine it has done a lot of nasty things to get there and to remain in that position. 

A friend of a different political persuasion in conversation started subjecting me to a litany of evils committed by the US, and all I could think to say was "You mean like the defeat of Nazi Germany?" The US became the super power by historic accident, and from one point of view it wanted to, and from another it had to. You can debate and second guess this forever. But the responsibility remains.

[DrTuner]

The way to deal with commies: isolate and let implode. Start with cutting them out of the supply chains. Rip off the plaster and do it ASAP.

[Isaan sailor]

CCP...time to stop feeding the beast.

[ThaiFelix]

2 hours ago, rudi49jr said:

For once I do agree with Pompeo, to some extent at least, but of course it’s a clear cut case of the pot calling the kettle black. I mean, the USA have been the world’s super power for decades, and I imagine it has done a lot of nasty things to get there and to remain in that position. 

You dont have to imagine, just read your history or daily newspapers.  The whole thing is just so hilarious: a proven liar representing probably history's biggest ever liars, speaking at a library dedicated to another famous liar as well as one of the worlds greatest mass murderers.  And they point the finger at others.  

[DrTuner]

6 hours ago, rabas said:

Frankenstein. The head bolted on top with sparking electrodes is the CCP. Fix that and all is well. 1.31 billion Chinese do not belong to the communist party. They deal with Frankenstein every day, something our local reps avoid discussing.

CCP claims 90.59 million members:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Communist_Party#Members

 

That's a lot to get rid of. One can't really whitewash the common Chinese as lily white non-commies either. Nations gets the leaders they deserve, they didn't fight back, so they are complicit until they topple CCP.

Edited July 24, 2020 by DrTuner

[ThaiFelix]

34 minutes ago, Enzian said:

A friend of a different political persuasion in conversation started subjecting me to a litany of evils committed by the US, and all I could think to say was "You mean like the defeat of Nazi Germany?" The US became the super power by historic accident, and from one point of view it wanted to, and from another it had to. You can debate and second guess this forever. But the responsibility remains.

Oh so it was the US who defeated Nazi Germany??  I suppose the rest of the allies, for years before the US joined in, were on kitchen duty??  Is this New World History 101?

Edited July 24, 2020 by ThaiFelix

[Eric Loh]

7 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

CCP claims 90.59 million members:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Communist_Party#Members

 

That's a lot to get rid of. One can't really whitewash the common Chinese as lily white non-commies either. Nations gets the leaders they deserve, they didn't fight back, so they are complicit until they topple CCP.

The Chinese is actually bewildered at the decline of democracy and question whether democracy is a better alternative to their political system. Trump has offered a damming representation of the health of US democracy, noting his attacks on the rule of law and fact-based journalism. They see American democracy as not infinitely durable, especially when the president shows little respect for its tenets. They see a deterioration of democracy, break down in law and order and an increasing incoming gap. They see homelessness, gun violence and wonder what so good about democracy. Ultimately the Chinese in China just want to see their leaders deliver their promises and if they continue to deliver, they will accept their political system.  

[DogNo1]

Democracy is quite durable and the US will likely find many allies in its fight against the CCP.  So far as not actively resisting the CCP, are you aware of the numerous demonstrations in China over the years and the actions of the citizens of Hong Kong?  

The USA has indeed done horrendous things. Whether or not they were justified depends on your interpretation of history.

[DrTuner]

2 minutes ago, DogNo1 said:

 So far as not actively resisting the CCP, are you aware of the numerous demonstrations in China over the years and the actions of the citizens of Hong Kong?  

I'm not. CCP successfully kept them hidden from rest of the world. Mind giving some links? And HK is not China, it's HK. As is Taiwan and Tibet and whatever else they annexed.

Edited July 24, 2020 by DrTuner

[GinBoy2]

33 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

I'm not. CCP successfully kept them hidden from rest of the world. Mind giving some links? And HK is not China, it's HK. As is Taiwan and Tibet and whatever else they annexed.

It's a fallacy to think there is not dissent, I've seen a few demonstrations in my years in Shanghai.

 

But it's tightly suppressed, so you never get to see it on tv.

 

Chinese people aren't as ignorant as Western press would have you believe. The poor know they are exploited, the middle class bite their lip so long as their lifestyle gets better, and the rich just milk it for everything they can get.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protest_and_dissent_in_China

[sead]

9 hours ago, pgrahmm said:

By most any measure China is a rogue state spreading it's tentacles physically, economically, and brutishly.....

Perhaps you spell wrong and put China instead of USA?

[rabas]

Just now, sead said:

Perhaps you spell wrong and put China instead of USA?

Wrongly wrote China instead of CCP.

[DrTuner]

10 minutes ago, GinBoy2 said:

Chinese people aren't as ignorant as Western press would have you believe. The poor know they are exploited, the middle class bite their lip so long as their lifestyle gets better, and the rich just milk it for everything they can get.

Sounds a lot like a SEA country I know.

 

Well, if there's dissidence, there's hope. Let it grow.

Edited July 24, 2020 by DrTuner

[GinBoy2]

1 minute ago, sead said:

Perhaps you spell wrong and put China instead of USA?

Here we go.

 

Can't remember I read the story where the US was locking up  million of its own citizens in re education camps, or where holding up a sign demanding democratic freedom gets you banged up for years as a crime against the State.

 

The US isn't perfect, no country is, but trying to equate the failings of the US to an authoritarian State like China really is a stretch

[In the jungle]

So now Pompeo wants international solidarity and support from the countries Trump has dissed for the last four years?

[GinBoy2]

7 minutes ago, In the jungle said:

So now Pompeo wants international solidarity and support from the countries Trump has dissed for the last four years?

Well you have a point there.

 

But unlike China, the Trump administration has a sell by date, be it this November or another 4 years, but he will be gone, and a different regime will take over

 

I'd guarantee you the CCP and Xi will be around long after most of us have turned to dust!

Edited July 24, 2020 by GinBoy2