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MADISON, United States: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday (September 23) accused China of trying to foment unrest in the United States by criticizing racism.
Pompeo, known for his aggressive views on China, attacked Beijing in an unusual speech to state lawmakers in Wisconsin, a crucial state in the November presidential election.
The Chinese Communist Party “believes it can drown America’s cries of responsibility with screams of racism,” Pompeo told his Republican Party lawmakers inside the state Capitol in Madison.
“The CCP wants to foster the kind of conflict that we have seen in Minneapolis, Portland and Kenosha,” he said, referring to three cities that have seen protests over racism and police brutality in recent months.
“That’s disgusting. We can’t let it happen,” he said.
As proof of China’s intentions, Pompeo pointed to a letter from a Chinese diplomat to a Wisconsin legislator.
The letter said that Beijing is “firmly opposed to racial discrimination and xenophobia” against the Chinese community in the United States over the coronavirus crisis.
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“They want me to believe that the just anger of the United States against the CCP for its handling of the coronavirus has something to do with race. It does not,” Pompeo said.
“It has everything to do with the citizens who are no longer with us, the children who cannot go back to school and the jobs that have been lost,” Pompeo said.
“The CCP knows.”
President Donald Trump has alarmed not only China but many Asian Americans by referring to the “China virus,” a term that health experts call stigmatizing.
The United States frequently attacks China’s human rights record, including the imprisonment, according to witnesses and activists, of more than one million Uighurs and other Turkish-speaking Muslims in the western Xinjiang region.
READ: China makes ‘tough representations’ to US on move to ban Xinjiang imports
China’s official media responded enthusiastically to the criticism after the May murder of African American George Floyd by Minneapolis police, which has sparked global protests and renewed attention to racism.
SUPPORT TO TAIWAN
Taiwanese representatives traveled to Madison for Pompeo’s speech, in which he offered strong support to the island.
China frequently pressures local American leaders to reject Taiwan, an autonomous democracy and economic powerhouse that Beijing sees as a province awaiting reunification.
“When a Chinese diplomat approaches you, it is likely not in the spirit of true cooperation or friendship,” Pompeo said.
“It can ignore the CCP’s threats and encourage mayors and businessmen to commit to a free and democratic Taiwan.”
China expressed its anger last week and held military exercises after a senior State Department official visited Taiwan for the funeral of President Lee Teng-hui.
The United States only recognizes Beijing, but maintains close but unofficial relations with Taiwan, where Chinese nationalists fled in 1949 after losing the civil war in mainland China.
