US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has boasted his country’s international role despite criticisms and expressions of suspicions by its European allies, claiming Western “values” would prevail over desires by China, Russia and Iran for “empire.”
Defending US global strategy during a speech on Saturday at the Munich Security Conference, Pompeo insisted that Europe, Japan and other American allies were united against China, Iran and Russia, despite what he referred to as “tactical differences.”
Citing what he claimed as Russia’s 2014 “annexation” of Crimea, cyber threats by Iran and economic coercion by China, the top US diplomat further accused the three countries of “desiring empires” and destabilizing what he commonly boasts as the “rules-based” international system.
Amid criticisms of Washington’s unilateral policy decisions by its European allies, Pompeo tried to address growing concerns among America’s Western partners about US President Donald Trump’s “America first” rhetoric, his reservations about the NATO military alliance as well as tariffs on European goods by underlining that there was no crisis in Western dominance.
“I’m happy to report that the death of the transatlantic alliance is grossly exaggerated. The West is winning, and we’re winning together,” he claimed in his speech in Munich, enumerating US steps to protect liberal democracies.
Pompeo was reportedly responding to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who on Friday accused the US, Russia and China of making the world more dangerous.
This is while French President Emmanuel Macron repeated his call for ending European dependence on the US, emphasizing: “We cannot be the United States’ junior partner.”
Macron further reiterated that while he supported NATO, Europe needed to be able to tackle threats in its neighborhood and at times act independently of Washington, saying: “I’m impatient for European solutions.”
He also underlined that the West’s policy of defiance toward Russia in recent years had failed and, as nobody wanted to confront Moscow directly, the only option was to have a closer dialogue to resolve differences.
Moreover, Pompeo’s Chinese counterpart Wang Yi also accused him of telling “lies, not based on facts” concerning Beijing’s intentions.
“All these accusations against China are lies, not based on facts,” Wang said in response to Pompeo’s boastful claims.
The development came as diplomats at the conference were cited in news reports as saying that Trump’s decision to unilaterally withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear and the Paris climate accord have weakened European priorities.
They further observed that Trump’s other moves, such as recognition of Jerusalem (al-Quds) as the Israeli regime’s capital have undermined European diplomacy.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who spoke immediately after Pompeo, also attacked China during his remarks, accusing Beijing of a “nefarious strategy” through the nation’s telecommunications firm Huawei.
“It is essential that we as an international community wake up to the challenges presented by Chinese manipulation of the long-standing international rules-based order,” Esper asserted.
He further underlined that Washington is working with technology companies in the US and allied nations to develop alternatives to Chinese 5G vendors and is testing them at American military bases.