(Bloomberg) — Secretary of State Michael Pompeo delivered a tough warning about China in a speech to U.S. governors, urging caution in business dealings there as Beijing looks for ways to exploit U.S. vulnerabilities at all levels.
The world’s second-largest economy is further embracing repression under President Xi Jinping, Pompeo said at the National Governors Association’s winter meeting in Washington.
“Competition with China is happening inside of your state and it affects our capacity to perform America’s vital national-security functions,” the top U.S. diplomat said. “Competition with China is not just a federal issue.”
Pompeo said U.S. engagement with China at the end of the Cold War was based on the assumption that it would turn toward becoming a liberal democracy.
“It didn’t happen,” Pompeo said. “Under Xi Jinping the country is moving exactly in the opposite direction: more repression, more unfair competition, more predatory economic practices, and indeed a more aggressive military posture as well.”
He added that those trends don’t mean the countries can’t do business, citing the recent trade deal between China and the U.S.
Be Cautious
“I’m asking you to adopt a cautious mindset,” Pompeo said. “In the words of President Reagan, when you are approached for introduction or a connection to a deal, ‘trust but verify.’”
A government-backed think tank in China has assessed governors of all U.S. states as friendly, hard-line or ambiguous toward it, Pompeo said.
Saturday’s speech followed shortly after Pompeo took a “Beware of China” message to Europe and Central Asia on a recent trip.
“The Chinese Communist Party presents the central threat of our times,” Pompeo, a former U.S. Central Intelligence Agency chief, said in London on Jan. 30.
His comments contrast with President Donald Trump’s recent conciliatory language toward China. Trump on Friday tweeted that he’d had a “long and very good conversation by phone” with Xi about China’s response to the coronavirus. “President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation.”
(Updates with additional comments from second paragraph.)
To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Kearns in Washington at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Ludden at [email protected], Ros Krasny
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