Bolton, "Trump Begged Xi Jinping for Reelection"

Bolton's Sharp Criticism of Trump's Pro-China Moves
"Pompeo Suffers Heart Attack After Moon-Trump Call"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] Former U.S. National Security Council (NSC) advisor John Bolton revealed that ahead of the 2018 Singapore North Korea-U.S. summit, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo dismissed President Donald Trump's phone call with President Moon Jae-in by saying he was "having a heart attack," effectively ignoring Trump.

Pompeo reportedly disregarded the way President Trump was steering the conversation. Bolton said, "At the time, Pompeo was on a call in the Middle East and expressed contempt with a joke about having a heart attack," adding that Pompeo mocked it as a near-death experience.

The Washington Post (WP) and The New York Times (NYT) on the 17th (local time) introduced Bolton's memoir, The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir, stating, "Bolton's book is filled with examples of Pompeo and other close aides sharply criticizing President Trump behind his back." The memoir is scheduled for release on the 23rd, but after a lawsuit to block its publication was filed the day before, key contents were reported by major media outlets including WP and NYT on the same day.

Bolton's book provides detailed accounts of the Singapore summit. He harshly criticized President Trump for treating the summit merely as a "publicity event," paying little attention to the specifics of denuclearization. He also claimed, "Trump told me he was ready to sign a hollow joint statement, hold a press conference to declare victory, and then leave the area."

Bolton further criticized President Trump for focusing heavily on delivering Elton John's 'Rocket Man' CD to Chairman Kim through Secretary Pompeo for several months after the Singapore summit. It was later confirmed by President Trump himself, following Pompeo's third visit to North Korea, that the CD was never delivered.

◆ Request for Reelection Support from President Xi = The memoir also states that President Trump requested support for his reelection during an informal meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. It highlights that Trump turned a blind eye to human rights issues in China for the sake of his reelection, emphasizing his prioritization of personal interests over national interests.

Bolton introduced that President Trump openly made such requests during the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, in June last year. When President Xi agreed to prioritize negotiations on purchasing U.S. agricultural products, Trump said, "You are the greatest Chinese leader in 300 years!" and followed up by expressing gratitude, calling him "the greatest leader in Chinese history." This implies that Trump asked China to buy more U.S. agricultural products to win voter support in farm states, which are key battlegrounds in the upcoming November U.S. presidential election, and is expected to cause considerable ripples in U.S. political circles.

Bolton also added that at the G20 summit in Argentina in December 2018, President Trump only demanded an increase in agricultural purchases from China. "If such an agreement had been reached, all U.S. tariffs on China would have been reduced," he said. Regarding this, Bolton remarked, "During my time at the White House, I struggled to find any significant decision by Trump that was not influenced by calculations for his reelection," suggesting that Trump had no interest beyond his reelection.

Based on these examples, Bolton argued, "If Democratic impeachment advocates had not fixated solely on the Ukraine issue and had taken the time to systematically investigate Trump's actions across his foreign policy, the impeachment outcome might have been different."

President Trump, who sought President Xi's support for his reelection, also showed hesitation or reluctance to take a hard line against China in various instances.

On the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square incident in June last year, President Trump refused to issue a White House statement, reportedly saying, "That was 15 years ago," inaccurately, and added, "Who cares about that? I want to negotiate. I don't want anything else," according to Bolton's testimony.

Bolton mentioned that President Trump showed a similar attitude toward sanctions on Huawei and ZTE. Despite strong demands for sanctions from Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and others, Trump saw it as an opportunity to engage in dialogue with President Xi.

Bolton claimed that President Trump turned a blind eye to human rights issues in China. He revealed that during the June summit, when President Xi explained the establishment of Muslim internment camps in Xinjiang, Trump indicated he would tolerate the camps. On the same day, President Trump signed the Uyghur Human Rights Act, which might have been effectively ignored if not for the COVID-19 pandemic.

Meanwhile, in an evening interview with Fox News, President Trump emphasized that he is tougher on China than any other president and accused Bolton of violating the law by leaking classified information.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.