Pompeo talks of China’s provocative military actions, says US will posture appropriately to counter PLA

Washington DC: US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo on Thursday said he spoke with EU Foreign Ministers earlier this month about the “provocative military actions” of People’s Liberation Army (PLA), including “deadly border confrontations” with India and asserted that Washington will make sure it is postured appropriately to counter PLA in view of the threat from Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to India, Vietnam and other countries.

“I spoke this month with EU Foreign Ministers, I got a lot of feedback on CCP, laid out a series of facts that talked about PLA’s provocative military actions including its continued aggression in the South China Sea, deadly border confrontations with India and threats against peaceful neighbours,” Pompeo made the remarks at the Brussels Forum virtual conference.

“There will be fewer US resources at certain places. They will be at other places as there is a threat from the CCP to India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and the South China Sea. We will make sure we are postured appropriately to counter the PLA,” he said.

Pompeo’s comments came in the backdrop of rising US-China tensions and the June 15 standoff between Indian Army personnel and PLA at Ladakh’s Galwan Valley, where 20 Indian troops had lost their lives.

Earlier, Pompeo said that the behaviour of CCP is fundamentally putting the American people’s security at risk and stressed that the Donald Trump administration is the first in decades to take this threat seriously.

The top US diplomat lashed out at China for making “empty promises” during last week’s China-Africa summit and said that Chinese President Xi Jinping “failed to promise real transparency and accountability” for Beijing’s role in “unleashing” the deadly coronavirus, which has infected over nine million people and claimed more than 400,000 lives globally.

He also said that Xi was not “putting lives front and centre” when the CCP “hid the truth” about COVID-19 from the world until it was too late.

Source: ANI