Pompeo: "Xi Jinping, a Bankrupt Totalitarian Devotee"

Emphasis on Supporting Chinese Communist Party Reform Attempts
Reference to Hope for Regime Overthrow in China

Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State, is giving a speech at the Nixon Library.
[Image source=EPA Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State, who has been making tough remarks toward China day after day, this time fiercely criticized Chinese President Xi Jinping as a "bankrupt totalitarian devotee." He also made remarks that effectively hope for the overthrow of China's regime, saying that the Chinese people must change the Communist Party, provoking China. The U.S.-China conflict is spreading to an extent that its end is unpredictable.

According to the Associated Press on the 23rd (local time), Secretary Pompeo emphasized this during a speech titled "The Chinese Communist Party and the Future of the Free World" at the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, California. He said, "Today, China is becoming increasingly authoritarian within its own borders and is more actively showing hostility toward freedom elsewhere," adding, "If the free world does not change communist China, communist China will change us."

He continued, "Because Beijing's actions threaten our people and our prosperity, free world countries must induce China to change through more creative and resolute methods," and "The free world must overcome this new tyranny." Secretary Pompeo notably attracted attention by asserting in his speech that the Chinese people must change the Communist Party.

He said, "The United States must support the Chinese people's pursuit of change, which is different from the Communist Party." To this end, he argued that the U.S. must intervene and empower the Chinese people. Regarding this, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, "Secretary Pompeo did not hesitate to call on allies and the Chinese people to cooperate with the U.S. to change the behavior of the Chinese Communist Party and demand a regime change in China through popular will."

Regarding the closure of the Chinese Consulate General in Houston, he explained it was because it was "the center of China's espionage activities and intellectual property theft." Secretary Pompeo said, "China has stolen our valuable intellectual property and business secrets," which sacrifices millions of jobs across the United States.

The choice of the Nixon Library as the venue for Pompeo's speech is also meaningful. While the Chinese Consulate General in Houston, which the U.S. decided to close, holds symbolic significance as the area Deng Xiaoping visited in 1979, this time it is interpreted as a signal that America's choice to open the door to China was a mistake.

Former U.S. President Richard Nixon was the figure who secretly visited China in 1972 and opened a breakthrough in U.S.-China relations. Secretary Pompeo recalled that Nixon lamented that by opening China to the world, he had created a "Frankenstein." He emphasized that the change in China that President Nixon hoped for did not occur, that the old paradigm of blindly embracing China has failed, and "it must not continue."

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