Comments were made by Mike Pompeo during the Brussels 2020 Virtual Forum. (Archive)
Washington:
The United States is reviewing its global deployment of forces to make sure it is in an adequate position to counter the People’s Liberation Army, given the growing threat China poses to Asian countries such as India, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, the secretary of state said. Mike Pompeo. Thursday.
Mr Pompeo made those comments in response to a question during the Brussels 2020 Virtual Forum of the German Marshall Fund.
“We will make sure we have a proper stance to counter the PLA. We believe it is the challenge of our time, and we will make sure we have the resources to do it,” Pompeo said.
The posture review of the force is being done under the direction of President Donald Trump, as part of which the United States is reducing the number of its troops in Germany from approximately 52,000 to 25,000, he said.
Mike Pompeo said that the posture of the force would be dictated by the realities of the terrain.
“In certain places there will be fewer American resources. There will be other places. I just talked about the threat from the Chinese Communist Party, so now the threats to India, the threats to Vietnam, the threats to Malaysia, Indonesia, the challenges of the Sea South China, the Philippines, “he said.
“As that changed, the difference in what the US chose to do negatively impacts a threat somewhere, it may be that other nations need to step up and take responsibility for their own defense in ways they have not done Previously “So we want to do this in full consultation with all of our partners around the world, and certainly with our friends in Europe,” said Mr Pompeo.
President Trump is being criticized for reducing Germany’s troops. Critics say this will increase Russia’s threat to Europe.
Mike Pompeo, however, disagreed with that argument.
It has been a long time since a strategic review of our strength posture was conducted around the world. The United States assumed that from about 2.5 years ago, whether it be our forces in Africa, our forces in Asia, the strength we have in the Middle East and in Europe, he said.
“We started to say that these are often decisions that were made at a different time. Should we reassign them differently? Should we have a different composition of those forces? Everyone always wants to talk about ground troops. I get it. A young officer of tanks. You described it. There’s nothing I like as much as a good M1 tank.
“But it is often the case that the ability to dissuade Russia or other adversaries is no longer determined simply by having a group of people put themselves away somewhere. So we really backtracked fundamentally on the perspective, what is the nature of conflict, what is the nature of the threat and how we should allocate our resources, be it our resources in the intelligence community, our resources in the Air Force or the Marines and the Army, “Pompeo said.
Last week, Mike Pompeo criticized the Chinese Army for “escalating” border tension with India and militarizing the strategic South China Sea. He also described the ruling Communist Party of China (CCP) as a “dishonest actor.”
“Our broad set of security apparatus allocation, our ability to counter cyber threats, how do we assign them? What is the best way to do this? And the decision you see the president making regarding Germany is a result of a collective set of decisions on how we are going to position our resources around the world, “the top US diplomat said Thursday.
Changes in the posture of the force are being taken in consultation with allies and friends, Pompeo said.
“President Trump has talked about this. (Defense) Secretary (Mark) Esper will be in London today and in Brussels tomorrow. We will talk about our plan and how we are thinking of delivering it,” he said.
“But you should understand this, and I hope that our European partners will as well. When you see what we finally concluded, how we ultimately comply with the president’s statements, which point directly to what we believe in.” be the fundamental interest of democracies and certainly the most fundamental interest of the United States, “said Pompeo.
Earlier this month, Mike Pompeo had said that China’s actions, whether on the Indian border, or in Hong Kong or in the South China Sea, were part of the behavior of the ruling Communist Party in Beijing in the past. recent.
China has rapidly expanded military and economic influence in the Indo-Pacific region, raising concern in several countries in the region and beyond.
China is involved in highly disputed territorial disputes in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea. Beijing has built and militarized many of the islands and reefs that it controls in the region. Both areas are said to be rich in minerals, oil and other natural resources and are vital for world trade.
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