U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is lashing out at China’s Communist Party for being “truly hostile to the United States,” slamming Beijing for exporting an authoritarian system, pressuring American companies and using coercion to advance maritime claims.
“They threaten the free and open international order by making extrajudicial territorial and maritime claims in places like the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait,” said Pompeo in a speech at a Hudson Institute event in New York Wednesday.
The top U.S. diplomat’s speech on China comes days after U.S. Vice President Mike Pence’s hard-hitting speech on China that referred to Beijing as a strategic rival for its authoritarian approach to society, the rule of law and international commerce.
China has pushed back on the U.S. assertions, saying Washington is smearing Beijing’s policies.
Pompeo also laid out key areas of U.S. competition with China that included the economy, military, ideologies, and international orders.
Weeks before the world’s two leading economies are expected to seal a phase one trade deal to pause the months-long trade war, Pompeo said “we want to see a thriving Chinese business community that transacts with the rest of the world on fair and reciprocal terms.
“We don’t want a confrontation with the People’s Republic of China,” added the chief diplomat.
