(Washington) The head of American diplomacy Mike Pompeo on Thursday called on “the free world” to “triumph” in the face of the “new tyranny” embodied according to him by Communist China, after the closure of the Chinese consulate in Houston described as “a hub of espionage”.
Posted on 23 July 2020 at 17 h 32
France Media Agency
“China today is more and more authoritarian inside the country, and more aggressive in its hostility to freedom everywhere else”, he declared in California during a speech whose tone more than ever recalled the Cold War with the Soviet Union.
In an attack of rare virulence against the president of one of the main world powers, he also accused Xi Jinping of being a “sincere follower of a bankrupt totalitarian ideology”, referring only to his functions as “secretary general” of the Communist Party.
The speech, delivered from the Richard Nixon presidential library in Yorba Linda, intends to summarize with force the firm strategy of President Donald Trump against the Asian giant, presented on several occasions as a “threat” or a “danger”.
It comes the day after the spectacular announcement of the closure of the Chinese consulate in the great city of Texas, imposed by Washington, crossing a new level in the unprecedented escalation between the two great rival powers.
Beijing has promised retaliation against this unprecedented decision since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1979. Chinese diplomacy again denounced Thursday a “malicious slander” that “destroys the bridge of friendship between the Chinese and the Americans.”
“We closed the Chinese consulate in Houston, because it was a hub for espionage and theft of intellectual property,” said Mike Pompeo, without clearly specifying the charges against his diplomats.
“The time has come for the free nations to take action”, he insisted, calling for “a new alliance of democracies”.
The objective of this move to act must be to “change the attitude” in Beijing, he pleaded, without going so far as to advocate regime change.
“If we bow now, our grandchildren could be at the mercy of the Chinese Communist Party, whose actions constitute the first challenge of the free world”, he insisted. “Xi is not meant to sow tyranny forever in China and abroad, unless we let it. “
