On Thursday, United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declared at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library that America's previous method of dealing with China has failed to succeed. Pompeo also announced that the country would take a new approach towards China's Communist Party (CCP) and said: "Distrust but verify."
A new approach
During the speech, Pompeo warned citizens of the United States that if the country buckles to China's pressure now, the next generations would be at the beck and call of the CCP. The secretary of state said Beijing's actions are the primary contender against the free world.
According to Fox News, the address comes a day after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) revealed that a program was implemented by the CCP that aimed to discreetly and illegally plant military researchers inside universities across the US and primarily aims to steal sensitive information.
The State Department announced earlier this week that it ordered the Houston Consulate of China to be shut down with Pompeo calling the agency a center for illegal monitoring and research theft. A Chinese spokesperson, however, denied the allegations and said Beijing would retaliate.
Despite the accusations, Pompeo has vowed to take action that would be vastly different from containment conducted during the era of the Cold War which aimed to block the spread of communism and isolate the Soviet Union.
The secretary of state noted that while China, unlike the Soviet Union, has long been integrated deeply with the global economy, it is more dependent on the US than the other way around.
Pompeo also noted the flaws of the immigration system and that it was prone to abuse hours after the FBI accused China of trying to steal sensitive US information. He added that the United States had welcomed Chinese citizens only to have the CCP exploit the kindness it was given, as reported by US News.
Oppression of its citizens
Throughout the address, the secretary of state made it vividly clear how the US saw the difference between the CCP and the Chinese people. Pompeo accused the CCP of misrepresenting the billions of citizens who are illegally monitored and oppressed.
Pompeo noted that the CCP was afraid of letting the world know the honest opinions of its citizens more than it feared international rivals. He also took the time to honor Wang Dan, a Tiananmen Square survivor and Wei Jingsheng, who he considered to be the father of the democratic movement of China.
It was also stated during the address that the only way to reform the CCP is to respond to the actions of its leaders and not by the words and promises they announce to the world.
Trump's administration previously employed critical measures against Chinese officials, including travel bans and requirements for registration. The government also stated that it would reject nearly all of China's territorial claims in the South China Sea amid the rising tensions between giants.
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