Mike Pompeo: China ‘wants world dominance and is a bigger threat than Vladimir Putin’
Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has told Sky News he believes China’s President Xi is a bigger threat to the world than Vladimir Putin.
Speaking on Beth Rigby Interviews, Mr Pompeo said President Xi is intent on world dominance.
“He wants to own you,” the US politician warned.
“He wants hegemonic intent across the world with his Marxist-Leninist vision, and Chinese economic and political dominance in every corner of the world.
“That is his vicious objective. We have an obligation to the next generation to push back against it.”
Ukraine war latest: ‘Crimea can’t be regained, says Pentagon
Asked if the Chinese leader is more dangerous than his Russian counterpart – who invaded Ukraine almost a year ago today – Mr Pompeo replied: “Absolutely. [It’s] Not even close.
“Vladimir Putin has a very capable nuclear program, and an economy that is dependent on a single industry. And if we produce energy in America, that industry would be a lot less valuable to him,” he said.
“Xi Jinping is a different creature.
“The globe is dependent on him economically, he has 1.4 billion people.
“He has an economy that rivals the size of that of the United States of America, a highly capable space and military and cyber program. And that’s the capabilities. And we have now also seen his intention.”
Mr Pompeo also said that while Mr Putin believes in greater Russia “he has no illusions about his capacity to dominate the world”.
Whereas he said Xi Jinping “believes this is not folderol. He believes he’s going to dominate the world.
“Those are two fundamentally different risks for our way of life in Europe, in the United States, in Asia, in the Middle East, everywhere.”
Read more on Sky News:
Former commander of Russia’s Wagner Group apologises for fighting in Ukraine
Could F-16s and RAF Typhoons be seen in skies over Kyiv?
Mr Pompeo served as secretary of state under Donald Trump between 2018 and 2021 and was the director of the CIA before that.
He recounted a meeting with Putin in which he “looked in his eyes” and “saw evil”.
“Make no mistake about it, he’s a bad guy.”
Biden weakness ‘allowed war in Ukraine to happen’
Mr Pompeo went on to attack Mr Trump’s predecessors, accusing President Biden of being weak and “allowing the war to happen”.
“What changed in the last decade? In 2014, President Obama allows Putin to take Crimea – one fifth of Ukraine. We always think about this war as having started on February 24th, now almost exactly a year ago. It actually started in 2014. Then, for four years, Putin doesn’t invade Europe. Doesn’t take another single inch. And then, we leave office and he goes at it again. I believe that’s not coincidence.”
Mr Pompeo rejected suggestions President Biden is acting as a leader on behalf of the West in its response to the Ukraine invasion and criticised how countries had responded to the war.
“The West has been slow, and late, and fearful of escalation, and that’s been a mistake. And so we should do our best to fix that today. We should provide them the things that they need and put Ukraine and the West in a place where Vladimir Putin will see the handwriting on the wall. This is how you restore deterrence.”
Click to subscribe to Beth Rigby Interviews… wherever you get your podcasts
Asked what a negotiated diplomatic solution to the war would look like, he said: “It would begin with the following. The United States, and most importantly, Europe actually providing the tools that the Ukrainian people need to fight and defend their own sovereignty.
“To put President Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian people in the position where President Putin would be negotiating from weakness. The ultimate resolution they will have to sort their way through.”
A US government official told Beth Rigby: “Mike Pompeo can’t prove whether or not Putin would have invaded Ukraine had Trump been in the White House. We do know that Trump’s approach to foreign policy eroded trust of allies, and President Biden repaired that.”
The official went on to say: “President Biden has shown significant and sustained leadership on Ukraine and used steady and deliberate cadence to bring allies on board. Germany has gone from supplying helmets to Leopard tanks. That’s quite a shift. That’s Joe Biden keeping the allies together.”
The fast-moving developments on Trump’s Ukraine peace deal are dominating the G20 summit in South Africa, as European leaders scramble to put together a counter-proposal to the US-Russia 28-point plan and reinsert Ukraine into these discussions.
European countries are now working up proposals to put to President Trump ahead of his deadline of Thursday to agree a deal.
Ukraine is in a tight spot. It cannot reject Washington outright – it relies on US military support to continue this war – but neither can it accept the terms of a deal that is acutely favourable to Russia, requiring Ukraine to give up territory not even occupied by Moscow and reducing its army.
Overnight, the UK government has reiterated its position that any deal must deliver a “just and lasting peace”.
Ukraine war latest: Kyiv to discuss ending war in talks in Switzerland
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Keir Starmer calls for growth plan at G20
The prime minister, who spoke with E3 allies President Macron of France, Chancellor Merz of Germany and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine on the phone on Friday, is having more conversations today with key partners as they work out how to handle Trump and improve this deal for Ukraine.
One diplomatic source told me allies are being very careful not to criticise Trump or his approach for fear of exacerbating an already delicate situation.
Instead, the prime minister is directing his attacks at Russia.
Read more:
Trump’s 28-point Ukraine peace plan in full
Analysis: We could all pay if Europe doesn’t guarantee Ukraine’s security
Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a plenary session on the first day of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. Pic: Reuters
“There is only one country around the G20 table that is not calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and one country that is deploying a barrage of drones and missiles to destroy livelihoods and murder innocent civilians,” he said on Friday evening.
“Time and again, Russia pretends to be serious about peace, but its actions never live up to its words.”
Pic: AP
On the Trump plan, the prime minister said allies are meetin on Saturday “to discuss the current proposal on the table, and in support of Trump’s push for peace, look at how we can strengthen this plan for the next phase of negotiations”.
Strengthening the plan really means that they want to rebalance it towards Ukraine’s position and make it tougher on Russia.
“Ukraine has been ready to negotiate for months, while Russia has stalled and continued its murderous rampage. That is why we must all work together with both the US and Ukraine, to secure a just and lasting peace once and for all,” said the prime minister.
“We will continue to coordinate closely with Washington and Kyiv to achieve that. However, we cannot simply wait for peace.
“We must strain every sinew to secure it. We must cut off Putin’s finance flows by ending our reliance on Russian gas. It won’t be easy, but it’s the right thing to do.”
Pic: AP
Europeans hadn’t even seen this deal earlier in the week, in a sign that the US is cutting other allies out of negotiations – for now at least.
Starmer and other European leaders want to get to a position where Ukraine and Europe are at least at the table.
There is some discussion about whether European leaders such as Macron and Meloni might travel to Washington to speak to Trump early next week in order to persuade him of the European and Ukrainian perspective, as leaders did last August following the US-Russian summit in Alaska.
But Sky News understands there are no discussions about the PM travelling to Washington next week ahead of the budget.
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment3 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024