Thursday, December 7, 2023
 
 

Pompeo warns US governors to be wary of Chinese spying

EPA-EFE/JIM LO SCALZO
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announces the State Department will not renew sanction waivers for countries importing Iranian oil at the State Department in Washington, DC, USA, 22 April 2019. The increased pressure on Iran comes nearly one year after the Trump administration withdrew from the Iran Nuclear Deal. Pompeo also spoke briefly on the terrorist bombings in Sri Lanka.

- Advertisement -

The United States’ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned America’s governors to be wary of Chinese spying.
He explained China is targeting individual US states in a strategic effort to expand its economic and political influence. He also said that a Chinese government-backed think tank has assessed all 50 governors on their attitude toward China and assigned each one a label: “friendly, hard-line or ambiguous.”
“So here’s the lesson. The lesson is the competition with China is not just a federal issue. It’s happening in your states with consequences for our foreign policy, for the citizens who reside in your states and indeed for each of you”, Pompeo said.
He urged all governors to be wary of Chinese investment and influence, including through contacts with Chinese diplomats, students and organizations:
“The Chinese government has been methodical in the way it has analyzed our system. It’s assessed our vulnerabilities and it has decided to exploit our freedom to gain advantage over us at the federal, state and the local level”, he said.

- Advertisement -

Subscribe to our newsletter

Latest

Don't miss

What will it take to prevent a Gaza reconstruction fiasco?

Let us be unequivocal about the current war between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas - the latter declared this war on Israeli...

Ukraine’s persecuted mayor

Lest it be forgotten, the major thematic issue in post-Maidan and pre-war Ukraine was, and continues to be, the transformation of Ukrainian society along...

Cameron’s return as Foreign Secretary raises UK’s international profile

David Cameron, who was made foreign secretary in a surprise move by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during his cabinet reshuffle on November 13, brings...

Russia’s powerful economic levers over Armenia

Armenia's relations with its strategic partner Russia are getting worse and worse and its leaders seem to desire a shift in geopolitical orientation towards the West....

New US actions against corruption and Russian malign influence in the Western Balkans

On November 16, the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, known by its acronym OFAC, designated eight individuals and six...

Rebuilding Ukraine: Opportunities and concerns for foreign businesses

Such is the scale of the effort required to rebuild Ukraine that the World Bank in March 2023 estimated it at $411 billion. That...

Why China’s new map has stirred regional tensions

In the waning days of summer, closely following a BRICS summit and mere days ahead of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Group...

Kazakhstan accelerating efforts to expand the strategic Middle Corridor

The Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, which is frequently referred to as the Middle Corridor, is a multilateral institutional development project linking the containerized rail...