So, watched @SecPompeo's remarks on China. Very loaded. The core idea seems to be some new form of confronting China but it can't be containment because, Pompeo says, China isn't like the USSR; it's not closed off to the world.
His speech is low on specifics. Talks about reciprocity and setting down rules. Says that America can lead a global effort of democracies, whose combined might is surely greater than China's. Says that unless this is done, our grandchildren will live under the CCP. 😱
The core premise of the speech is that China is guided by "Marxism-Leninism" (does he even know what the term means?), and that Xi Jinping's ideology is leading him down the path of domination in the world. He has to be stopped by the "free world." A lot of recycled trope, folks.
Lashes out at Chinese students (spies, who else). But claims special regard for the Chinese people who love freedom (the undertone of the speech hints at democracy promotion, though what this entails remains unclear, especially if cultural ties are curbed).
Says Reagan's maxim "trust but verify" should be replaced in relation to China with "distrust and verify," which is a hell of a foundation for developing bilateral ties. But Pompeo says, too, that China needs the US more than the US needs China; so they'll cave in, he implies.
Pompeo says that Nixon did well trying to bring China out of its angry isolation but claims that China bites the hand that feeds it (ouch, nasty stuff, and a little absurd: hard to tell now who is feeding whom).
Overall, no great initiatives proclaimed (this administration is low on creative thinking). To cite a Chinese proverb, lots of thunder but few raindrops. But not to be underestimated as a marker of direction. We'll have to buckle up for the ride.
Oh, forgot to mention, in the Q&A, he says something rather unclear about strategic Russian-American cooperation directed against China but he seems to mean only arms control (which the US has anyhow more or less abandoned under Trump). Full speech: .
He's of course kidding himself on Russia. One thing I never understood is why US policy community is so convinced that Russia is terrified of China.
