US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo has hit out at China saying they took “incredibly aggressive action” in a recent clash with India over disputed borders.
On the night of June 15, Chinese forces and Indian troops got caught in a bloody fight with rods and clubs, leading to the death of 20 Indian soldiers, with some falling to their deaths in the waters of the Galwan River in the western Himalayas.
Pompeo said that he has spoken to External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar several time about it.
“I have spoken with Foreign Minister Jaishankar a number of times about this. The Chinese took incredibly aggressive action. The Indians have done their best to respond to that,” Pompeo said.
The US Secretary of State also criticized “General Secretary” Xi Jinping and said that the number of both maritime and boundary disputes that the Chinese Communist Party has engaged in is “unequalled anyplace else in the world”.
“I’d put this in the context of General Secretary Xi Jinping and his behavior throughout the region, and indeed, throughout the world. It’s – I don’t think it’s possible to look at that particular instance of Chinese Communist Party aggression in isolation. I think you need to put it in the larger context,” he said.
“When I was up here once before, we talked about the number of both maritime and boundary disputes that the Chinese Communist Party has engaged in. I think it’s unequaled anyplace else in the world. There aren’t many neighbors that could satisfactorily say that they know where their sovereignty ends and that the Chinese Communist Party will respect that sovereignty. That’s certainly true now for the people of Bhutan as well,” he added.
Pompeo slammed Chinese Communist Party for engaging in what he termed was “increasingly revisionist effort” and said US under President Donald Trump has taken that seriously.
“This is what the world must come together to respond to. This increasing revisionist effort that the Chinese Communist Party is engaged in is something that President Trump has taken incredibly seriously. The United States hadn’t done that in previous administrations,” said Pompeo.
“We will respond to this in a way that we think is appropriate, and we have attempted to communicate to the Chinese leadership that we are serious about this. When I say “we,” it’s not just the United States. We will start very shortly a dialogue with our EU friends on how we collectively can respond to this challenge from the Chinese Communist Party,” he added.
The US Secretary of State highlighted that with the spread of coronavirus, world has seen the true colours of Chinese Communist Party.
Washington and Beijing have been at loggerheads over the handling of the coronavirus outbreak, China’s actions in the former British colony of Hong Kong and a nearly two-year trade dispute between the U.S. and China.