Secretary of State Mike Pompeo continued his theme of hostile Cold War rhetoric aimed at Beijing in a speech on Wednesday at Wisconsin’s state capitol building. Pompeo warned a group of Wisconsin state-level lawmakers about the Chinese government’s efforts to influence US state governments.
“Know that when you are approached by a Chinese diplomat, it is likely not in the spirit of cooperation or friendship,” Pompeo said. “Know too that these approaches may happen from Chinese nationals or Americans working with CCP-linked interests.”
Besides state governments, Pompeo also warned of Chinese “influence and espionage campaigns at the municipal and city levels.”
The gist of Pompeo’s speech is that the Chinese government is trying to influence local and state governments in the US through embassy workers and front groups. The diplomat admitted that other countries do this sort of thing all the time but argued that it is “fundamentally different” than what China is doing.
US-China relations are at their lowest point in decades, due largely in part to the coronavirus pandemic. On Tuesday, those tensions took center stage at the 75th UN General Assembly when President Trump said that China “unleashed” coronavirus on the world and must be held accountable.
More Chinese influence would be better for humanity at large. The icing on the cake would be for the Fat Man to be dragged before the ICC.
The US won’t even recognize the International Criminal Court because if they did too many Americans would be dragged before it. The US even wants to sanction the ICC for daring to look into war crimes committed by the US in Afghanistan.
Uyghurs, Tibetans, Taiwanese, Chinese Christians and Muslims disagree. Oh and the Indians, Filipinos and Ecuadorans.
This rhetoric is SCARY. Can you imagine any Chinese-American, or Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Thai, Indonesian — to name just a few — Americans looking for a JOB in this environment? This scaremongering has gone INSANE! State Governments and local governments are not children. They should be a nudge of a business tender on its merits — not assuming that behind it lurks Trump-Pompeo newly discovered China threat.
Even the mist die-hard Trump supporters have come to realize that this China-threat is just another Soviet-threat, all means to scare population into approving anything — specially not object to insane increases in military spending.
That’s why the majority of students from China graduating in the US are going back home:
https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3102384/chinas-overseas-graduates-return-record-numbers-already
All that brain drain is really going to hurt the US in the long run. MAGA (Make Asia Great Again).
But let us NOT worry about dual citizenship and the divided loyalty that naturally follows? We have people in all levels if government that publicly actively libby fir the interests of another country — and that i OK? Are we in trouble when our top “diplomat” tells state governments to discriminate against their own citizens? After endangering their jobs and businesses — what is next? Already discriminated in higher education, is housing next?
Pompeo is another swamp creature. Keeping the level of fear and paranoia high gives the other DC swamp.dwellers a rational for massive Military Industrial Complex spending. Trump claimed he would drain the swamp. How exactly does that happen when he openly embraces the people that are at the heart of the swamp?
Draining the swamp was just another one of his 20,000 lies.
State Department needs to go back to its original name of War Department, because it seems they’ve out-warred the Offense Department.
The odor of arrogance that reeks from this administration is overwhelming, you can’t even hold your nose to escape it.
What about the fact that the nation of Israel and AIPAC have been influencing our own government for years. What about our own history of meddling in the affairs of sovereign nations?
We do?…../s
The USA is devoid of diplomats, of course, with the top man being Pompass. China and Russia, and most other nations, actually try to have some sort of dialogue with others and enhance peace.
Pompeo is Bolton-lite.
This man is such a nasty little warmonger, I can’t stand to listen to him or even see his face in the news.
Ditto here.
We are more worried about the criminal influence of the US State Department.