In London Pompeo Delivers Anti-China Diatribe, Meets with Tory ‘Hawks’ Who Want Hard Line on Beijing

July 21, 2020 (EIRNS)—Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met in London today with Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab to discuss relations with China, Huawei, the Iran arms embargo, and matters pertaining to “global security and stability.” Pompeo’s visit comes as part of a major campaign against Boris Johnson and his key associates, Dominic Cummings and Michael Gove, by British intelligence and the anti-Johnson Tories who are furious about Johnson’s Rooseveltian “New Deal” announcement and his refusal to fully join in the Russiagate and Chinagate operations. While Pompeo ranted against China, Johnson told the press yesterday that he would “not completely abandon our policy of engagement” with China.

He further stated: “China is a giant factor of geopolitics, it’s going to be a giant factor in our lives and in the lives of our children and grandchildren.... You have got to have a calibrated response and we are going to be tough on some things but also going to continue to engage.” Yesterday when he was asked about human rights violations against Uighurs in Xinjiang and Pompeo’s favorite claim that Uighur women are being forcibly sterilized, Johnson responded that while such issues were “deeply worrying ... I’m not going to be pushed into a position of becoming a knee-jerk Sinophobe on every issue,” AFP reported him as saying.

Pompeo’s visit occurred one day after Raab announced in the House of Commons that the U.K. was suspending “immediately and indefinitely” its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and imposing an embargo on export of anti-riot and other military equipment to Hong Kong to protest Beijing’s new national security law. The Chinese Embassy in London announced it will “resolutely respond” to London’s “blatant interference” in China’s internal affairs.

During his short visit, while gushing about the “special relationship,” Pompeo found time to not only meet at Downing Street, but also with exiled Hong Kong protest leader Nathan Law, and with Chris Patten, Her Majesty’s last British Governor of Hong Kong, who has become an outspoken proponent of “democracy” and color revolution for Hong Kong. Also very unusual, was Pompeo’s meeting prior to his Downing Street visit, with a group of Tory China hawks, MPs who lobbied very aggressively against Huawei’s involvement in Britain’s 5G network, and are now demanding a complete overhaul in U.K. policy toward China, charging that Johnson and Raab haven’t acted aggressively enough against a nation that “doesn’t share our values.” Reportedly, these Tory backbenchers urged Pompeo to communicate their demands to the Prime Minister.

Raab maintained a “diplomatic” tone in the press conference that followed his meeting with Pompeo, limiting himself to expressing “serious concerns” about developments in Hong Kong. But Pompeo indulged in his usual chest-thumping diatribe, reporting that their meeting “of course began with the challenge presented by the Chinese Communist Party and the COVID-19 virus that originated in Wuhan, China. The CCP’s exploitation of this disaster to further its own interests has been disgraceful. Rather than helping the world, General Secretary Xi has shown the world the party’s true face.” China, he charged, had “crushed freedoms” in Hong Kong and was “bullying” its Asian neighbors. Following his meetings with Raab, Pompeo tweeted “We know that U.S.-UK cooperation is absolutely integral to global security and stability. Glad to meet with @DominicRaab once again - our dynamic discussion covering our shared security concerns and our continued coordination within the G7 reinforced how deep U.S.-UK ties are.”