Nations Must Choose Between ‘Freedom and Tyranny’ in Stand Against Communist China: Pompeo

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has implored democracies to work together to defend against expansive threats posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), calling it a choice between “freedom and tyranny.”

NTD Newsroom

Published: 7/23/2020, 7:12:41 PM EDT

Nations Must Choose Between ‘Freedom and Tyranny’ in Stand Against Communist China: Pompeo — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo delivers a speech on Communist China and the future of the free world at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, Calif., on July 23, 2020. (David McNew/Getty Images)

“We, the free nations of the world, must induce change in the CCP’s behavior in more creative and assertive ways, because Beijing’s actions threaten our people and our prosperity,” Pompeo said during a speech at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in California on July 23.

"The free world must triumph over this new tyranny," he said, describing it as the "mission of our time."

Pompeo called on Americans and partner countries to recognize that the CCP is fundamentally a Marxist-Leninist regime, saying the "ideology informs this decades-long desire for global hegemony of Chinese communism." On this basis, the United States should approach the regime from the standpoint of "distrust and verify," he said, adapting former President Ronald Reagan's famous words regarding negotiations with the Soviet Union, "trust, but verify."

"The only way to truly change Communist China is to act not on the basis of what Chinese leaders say, but how they behave," he said.

Pompeo's remarks capped a series of speeches by top administration officials in recent weeks seeking to spotlight the CCP's malign actions in the United States and around the world. It came as Washington pushes back against the Chinese regime for its technology theft, human rights crackdowns, and military aggression.

This week, the United States, in an unprecedented move, ordered the Chinese consulate in Houston to close by the afternoon of July 24, with Pompeo accusing the facility of being a "hub of spying and intellectual property theft." The Justice Department also confirmed on July 23 that the San Francisco consulate is harboring a wanted Chinese researcher, who's been charged with failing to disclose in her visa application that she was a member of the Chinese military.

Three other Chinese nationals were recently arrested on similar charges of visa fraud, the department said.

The Justice Department also announced on July 21 an indictment against two Chinese hackers accused of a decade-long campaign to steal trade secrets from defense contractors and hundreds of firms around the world—most recently in an attempt to acquire COVID-19-related research.

Not a 'Normal Country'

Pompeo said people and countries "have to tell the truth" about the CCP: "We can't treat this incarnation of China as a normal country just like any other."

For instance, in the area of trade, Beijing "treats international ... agreements as suggestions, as conduits for global dominance," he said.

Doing business with CCP companies also isn't the same as normal commercial engagements, Pompeo noted, saying these companies "don't answer to independent boards, and many of them are state-sponsored and so have no need to pursue profits."

"If our companies invest in China, they may wittingly or unwittingly support the Communist Party's gross human rights violations," he added.

In the same vein, Pompeo said that many Chinese students and employees "come here to steal our intellectual property and to take this back to their country."

Empowering the Chinese People

The United States must also "engage and empower the Chinese people," whom Pompeo called a "dynamic, freedom-loving people who are completely distinct from the Chinese Communist Party."

He said the "biggest lie" the CCP tells is "that they speak for 1.4 billion people who are surveilled, oppressed, and scared to speak out.

"On the contrary, the CCP fears the Chinese people's honest opinions more than any foe," Pompeo said.

He criticized the regime's suppression of those voicing views unacceptable to the Party, such as dissidents and the whistleblower doctors who sounded the alarm about the CCP virus during the pandemic's early stages.

“For many decades, our leaders have ignored, downplayed, the words of brave Chinese dissidents that warned us about the nature of the regime we're facing,” Pompeo said.

“We can't ignore it any longer.”

From The Epoch Times