Pompeo Thinks ‘Tide Has Turned’ against China among Allies, Says He Will Make Americans Understand

Sept. 15, 2020 (EIRNS)—Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke this morning at an Atlantic Council Front Page internet interview, where he held forth on the necessity of containing the China threat to the world. He was interviewed for a half-hour by Atlantic Council President Fred. Kemp. He otherwise addressed new deal-making in the Middle East, Central and Eastern Europe.

Kemp asked Pompeo directly to expound on the meaning of Pompeo’s speech at the Nixon Library speech on July 23, and that of the other three officials in the quartet of speeches that Pompeo commissioned this summer on China—Attorney General William Barr, FBI Director Christopher Wray and National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien.

Pompeo said that “the outcome we seek” in our foreign policy, is a world system, for the next 100 years, that will not allow China to achieve its domination goals. China has “Marxist underpinnings.” It has “state-sponsored enterprises.” China has “civil military fusion projects.” You may hear talk of “national rejuvenation,” but they are trying to undermine other nations. They are taking a “Middle Kingdom” approach.

Pompeo said of the Nixon era, that “whatever the 1970s policy,” it “no longer makes sense.” This is not just a security issue, but it is a matter of economic and social values policy too. Understanding this is central to President Donald Trump’s foreign policy, and it will be central to every administration for years to come.

In response to this, Kemp then asked Pompeo to discuss what the U.S. allies think about this, given that China is the number one trading partner for many of them.

Pompeo replied that there are two allies. First, “the most important ally is the American people.” He said that,

“The American people need to fundamentally understand the threat that is imposed on them. ... I’ve traveled the United States. I’m going to travel to a state capital next week, talk about the threat from the united front here inside the United States. You’ve seen what we did to the den of spies that was in Houston—we closed it....”

He said, “And I think we’ve gone a long ways into communicating transparently about why it is the case that allowing tens of millions of jobs to have been stolen through the Chinese communist predatory economic activity here in the United States cannot continue.”

Secondly, Pompeo said that during his 1.5 years at the CIA and 2.5 years at the State Department, he has talked to many allies, in terms of “data and facts,” and

“My view is that the tide has turned. I think whether it’s their recognition of the coverup that took place with respect to the Chinese virus, whether it’s the predatory activity they’re now failing—falling flat all across Africa, whether it’s the ASEAN countries who I spoke with in multiple meetings last week coming to understand that these attacks on their economic activities inside their own resource zones are things that they have the capacity to stand up to, so long as America is prepared to do it alongside them.”