Pompeo labels CCP as most existential threat to US national security
Dec 17, 2020
Washington [US], December 17 : The challenge from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is the most existential threat to the United States, its prosperity and security, said US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo.
"Some of the Chinese Communist Party's biggest victims on campus are innocent Chinese nationals themselves, but the CCP doesn't just target Chinese nationals. They want to influence American students, professors, and administrators too," Pompeo said in a tweet dated Wednesday.
Speaking at an interview with Ben Shapiro of The Ben Shapiro Show, Pompeo said that US President Donald Trump is the first president to have recognized the CCP's threat.
"(The) challenge from the Chinese Communist Party is the most existential threat to the United States and its prosperity and security. President Trump is the first president to have recognized that," he said.
The Secretary of State pointed out that members of the CCP are working "to infiltrate, to cozy up to, to draw connections and exert influence" in ways that are deep and powerful.
He added, "America has now had a leader who is refusing to bend a knee to China and is standing up to them, but there's an awful lot more work to do, as you can see by the data that's now coming out."
With regard to what the United States is doing in terms of curbing Chinese influence not just around the globe, Pompeo said that it is an enormous undertaking that "will require enormous determination and persistence by the people of the United States of America."
"The State Department has begun to push back in real ways. They had a Chinese candidate for something called the World Intellectual Property Organization. We beat them. We're competing there in ways we never did before," he added.
"It takes a real leader in the White House to do that. We began this process. We've made enormous progress but there's going to be a lot of work to do for a long time," the US top diplomat said further.
China and the US are at loggerheads since President Donald Trump took office over many issues including trade, India-Pacific, coronavirus and treatment of Uyghur Muslims. The tensions between the two countries have escalated in recent times.
Pompeo announced sanctions against 14 vice-chairpersons of the National People's Congress over the controversial national security law imposed on Hong Kong, and also designated China in its list of 'Countries of Particular Concern' (CPC) for violations of religious freedom.
