Pompeo's diplomacy unsettles the world

Judging from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's behavior, we wonder if the mania of the "cold war" has already pervaded him. He has repeatedly made aggressive remarks on key sensitive issues involving China, Russia and Iran in recent days. In today's global arena, his extreme political bias and arrogant ideological clamor are phenomenally abominable. As top US diplomat, he is more like the complainer-in-chief.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addresses a press conference in Budapest on February 11, 2019. [File photo: VCG]

"For quite some time, certain US politicians have been touring the globe with the same script in their pockets to smear China, starting fires and fanning the flames and sowing discords. Such behaviors are really beneath their dignity. A lie will remain a lie, even if repeated a thousand times. Monsieur Pompeo might as well take a break."

This is a summary by China's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang of Pompeo's misbehavior at a regular press briefing on April 15. In the past year or so, Pompeo has been one of the foreign politicians that China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has criticized by name most frequently. With his words and deeds, Pompeo has defied the sense of grace that is valued by the global diplomatic community. He, the US Secretary of State, said on April 15 at Texas A&M University that "I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. It's - it was like - we had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment."

Pompeo not only likes to reveal such notorious conduct, but also tries to dominate US diplomacy with such value standards. He attempts to transform US diplomacy in a way that astonishes the world, but refuses to be reformed by diplomacy.

Pompeo is obviously tired of diplomacy. He prefers the CIA's fierce approaches. He must believe: With US power, why bother to talk and negotiate? The US just needs to flex its muscles and then all should be settled.

Is opposing China a priority of Pompeo's life? This question needs to be studied. When Pompeo was a member of the House of Representatives, he proposed 24 pieces of legislation against China. He not only exerted pressure on China through regional and international affairs, but also intervened in the South China Sea, the internal affairs of China's Hong Kong and religious affairs inside China.

Now, as Secretary of State, he has even more ways to oppose China. He is becoming hysterical, using his power to blend his personal anti-China will with US national policy.

His remarks at the Detroit Economic Club in June 2018 have revealed his thinking. He clamored that the global economy must re-adopt the US model. Feeling uncomfortable with certain successful economies that have not adopted the US model, he claimed that "the dynamism, the creativity, and the innovation… can only happen in a political environment that is like ours." With his terribly conceited logic, he sees every country as an eyesore, and he especially resents the rapid development of China, a country that refuses to walk the US path.

Pompeo tells a lie, and then forces US allies to call white black. Otherwise, punishments await these countries. He warned Washington allies that importing Chinese 5G technology would "make it more difficult for us to partner alongside them," pushing them to take sides.

Chinese people will remember Pompeo as a representative who breaks the bottom line of US diplomatic ethics. Letting such a person dominate US diplomacy will unsettle the world and put global peace at risk.