US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Saturday urged US governors to resist Chinese pressure to shun Taiwan, as he warned that Beijing was increasingly taking its diplomatic battle to the local level.
In an address to the National Governors Association in Washington, Pompeo said that US President Donald Trump’s administration would step up communication with state and local governments about dealing with China.
“Don’t make separate individual deals and agreements with China that undermine our national policy,” Pompeo said. “I know none of you would do so intentionally. Let us help you make sure we’re getting it right.”
Photo: Bloomberg
Pompeo pointed to a threat last year sent to Mississippi’s governor that China would cancel investment over his visit to Taiwan.
“When it comes to doing business, I’m asking you to adopt a cautious mindset. In the words of [former US] president [Ronald] Reagan, when you are approached for introduction or a connection to a deal, ‘trust but verify,’” he told the governors representing the 55 states and territories.
He also cited a letter by a Chinese diplomat urging state governments not to congratulate President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on her re-election last month and a case in which a high school in Chicago withdrew an invitation to a Taiwanese representative to take part in a climate discussion.
“It’s one thing to pressure the secretary of state of the United States of America. It seems quite something else to go after a high-school principal,” Pompeo said. “It shows depth. It shows systemization. It shows intent.”
“While these might seem like local matters to some, the cumulative effect is of enormous national importance and international significance,” he said.
Pompeo also warned of Chinese pressure on local leaders not to meet the Dalai Lama, and voiced concern about state governments’ financial choices, saying that Florida’s pension fund has invested in a company with ties to surveillance in Xinjiang, where Beijing has detained more than 1 million Uighur and other Turkic-speaking Muslims.
China was pursuing a policy of exploiting US freedoms to “gain advantage over us at the federal level, the state level and the local level,” he said.
“It’s happening in your states, with consequences for our foreign policy and for citizens that reside in your states ... and affects our capacity to perform America’s vital national security functions,” he said.
Pompeo said the Chinese approach was organized and methodical, adding: “I’d be surprised if most of you in the audience have not been lobbied by the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] directly.”
Beijing has denounced Pompeo’s comments targeting the CCP as vicious attacks and said any attempts to smear China or obstruct its growth were doomed to fail.
Additional reporting by Reuters
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS