To counter and address the threats of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the “provocative military actions” of its army, the United States and the European Union have agreed to launch a dialogue, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said.
Pompeo made the remarks during the Brussels Forum in a discussion with the German Marshal Fund.
“Enjoyed the discussions today at the German Marshall Fund’s #BrusselsForum. I am excited to announce the U.S. and EU are launching a dialogue on China to address the threats the CCP poses to our common values and way of life,” Pompeo wrote on Twitter on June 26.
The week before, European Union chief diplomat Josep Borrell had called for talks between Europe and the United States aimed at forging a common transatlantic front against China.
During talks with 27 EU Foreign Ministers and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Borrell on June 15 had said the two sides should make common cause “to defend our values and our interest”.
“I am pleased to announce that the United States has accepted High Representative Borrell’s proposal to create a US-EU dialogue on China,” Pompeo said adding that he is looking forward to a new mechanism for discussing the concerns “we have about the threat that China poses to the West and our shared democratic ideals.”
During the Brussels Forum, Pompeo repeatedly mentioned “the threat of the Communist Party in China” and referred to “provocative military actions” of People’s Liberation Army (PLA), including “deadly border confrontations” with India.
He asserted that the behaviour of CCP is fundamentally putting the American people’s security at risk and stressed that the Donald Trump administration is the first in decades to take this threat seriously.
Pompeo further said that Washington is reviewing its global deployment of forces to ensure that it is “postured appropriately” to counter the growing Chinese military threat to countries like India, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines.