US and EU team up to ‘continue transatlantic awakening to China challenge’, Mike Pompeo says, as Sino-American relations sink
- The US secretary of state says he doesn’t ‘want the future to be shaped by’ the Chinese Communist Party
- Trump administration has accepted an invitation from Europe’s top diplomat to join a new ‘US-EU dialogue on China’
The Trump administration has accepted an invitation from Europe’s top diplomat to join a new “US-EU dialogue on China,” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Thursday, escalating pressure on Beijing by Washington and its allies.
“We have to work together to continue the transatlantic awakening to the China challenge, in the interest of preserving our free societies, our prosperity and our future,” Pompeo said at a Washington think tank event held over the Zoom videoconferencing app. “It won’t be easy.”
“I don’t want the future to be shaped by the CCP, and I would wager no one on this call wants that either,” Pompeo said, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.
The announcement comes amid a steady downward spiral in US-China relations. Just this week, lawmakers moved to potentially open the door to private lawsuits against China for Covid-19 damages, while the Trump administration threatened new tariffs against China’s seafood industry.
Even as Pompeo was speaking, the US Senate was moving to pass a bill, the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, that could enhance sanctions against officials who violate China’s commitments to Hong Kong under the Sino-British Joint Declaration and the Basic Law.
