TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The U.S. must strengthen regional partnerships including Taiwan to counter the Chinese threat, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Tuesday (May 21).
Pompeo told Taiwan News at an event that the U.S. should build up its friends in the Indo-Pacific as well as security capabilities, “so that China can’t continue to threaten them.”
The U.S. attempted to sway China into becoming a more open nation that respected human rights for the past 40 years, Pompeo said.
However, "they took an incredibly different path,” he said, alleging China of intellectual property theft, persecution of Uyghurs, and creating tensions among its neighbors. To address this challenge, Pompeo said, “We need to rip the band-aid off. We need to acknowledge the Chinese communist party as the threat that it is.”
Engaging with Beijing “creates an enormous amount of risk,” he added.
The former secretary of state said that while the Biden administration did get certain things right in its approach to dealing with China, it failed to acknowledge the risk the Chinese Communist Party poses to the U.S. and “its capacity to do harm.”
He expressed disappointment in President Joe Biden for wanting to continue a “model of appeasement and engagement” that has remained for decades.
In an opening speech, Pompeo praised Taiwan’s democracy as progressive and said he was proud of what the Taiwanese have achieved.
Commenting on U.S.-Taiwan ties, Pompeo said the U.S. has stood by its allies when it mattered most. “The United States is a good ally in times of strife,” he said.
Recalling his previous remark suggesting the U.S. should establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Pompeo said his sentiment was genuine and not a gesture. “Recognizing this place, Taiwan, as an independent, sovereign, free nation is true. It reflects the reality,” he said.
“It would be important for the United States to make a declarative statement about Taiwan and its independence," he added.
Pompeo arrived in Taiwan on Sunday (May 19) to attend President Lai Ching-te’s (賴清德) inaugural ceremony. He first served as CIA director under the Trump administration from 2017 to 2018 and later was appointed secretary of state.
