China talks ‘critical’ issues with Pompeo on final stop of his Asia trip

Tariffs

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo looks back as he prepares to enter a meeting room with China’s State Councilor Yang Jiechi at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, Monday, Oct. 8, 2018. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, Pool)

The next stop for U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo – the White House. Pompeo will update President Donald Trump on his four-nation Asia tour.

While America’s top envoy is hailing progress with Pyongyang, he faced rebuke in Beijing.

CGTN’s Jim Spellman explains.

Wrapping up a four-nation trip to Asia,  Pompeo met with State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who firmly pushed back at U.S. criticism. It is the first visit to China by a high ranking U.S. official since U.S. Vice Presidents made a sweeping speech accusing China of everything from unfair trade practices to interfering with upcoming U.S. elections — charges Beijing denies.

“Recently, as the U.S. side has been constantly escalating trade friction toward China, it has also adopted a series of actions on the Taiwan issue that harm China’s rights and has made groundless criticism of China’s domestic and foreign policies. We believe this has been a direct attack on our mutual trust, and has cast a shadow on China-U.S. relations,” said Wang.

Pompeo responded that the U.S. and China have many areas of agreement, including denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, but acknowledged the current tensions between Washington and Beijing.

“On the issues that you characterized, we have a fundamental disagreement. We have great concerns about the actions that China has taken. And I look forward to having the opportunity to address each of those today because this is an incredibly important relationship,” said Pompeo.

Also present at the meeting was Yang Jiechi, director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee.

“The United States should and must make the right choice. I hope the U.S. and China can meet halfway and carefully implement the important consensus reached by the two heads of states at multiple meetings, properly manage disparities on the basis of mutual respect and equal treatment, and expand practical cooperation on the basis of mutual benefit to ensure China-U.S. relations can further advance along right track,” Yang said.

Pompeo’s Beijing visit comes after stops in Tokyo, Seoul and Pyongyang where he met with DPRK leader Kim Jong Un. Their meeting focused on advancing denuclearization talks that seemed to stall in recent weeks.

 

 
 
 
 
 
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@secpompeo had a good meeting with Chairman Kim today in Pyongyang. Progress made on Singapore Summit Agreements! I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim again, in the near future.

A post shared by President Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on

Pompeo said the DPRK is ready to allow international inspectors into a key test site that Pyongyang said it destroyed back in May, but no details were revealed. Both sides said progress was made towards a possible second summit between Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, but no date or location has been set.


George Koo on US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s Asia trip

CGTN’s Mike Walter spoke with George Koo, founder and former managing director of International Strategic Alliances, on the outcome of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s four-nation Asia trip.