Pompeo brings anti-China roadshow to Indian Ocean islands

MALE, Maldives — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday brought the Trump administration' s anti-China campaign to two Indian Ocean island nations considered particularly at risk for what American officials allege is Chinese exploitation. In one significant step, Pompeo announced that the United States would for the first time open an embassy in the Maldives.

Pompeo visited Sri Lanka and the Maldives to press the two countries to be on guard against potential predatory lending and investment by China. He was making the case less than a week before the American election in which President Donald Trump is seeking to paint his rival, former Vice President Joe Biden, as weak on China and beholden to it.

Even before Pompeo arrived, China had fired back at the U.S. message, accusing Washington of bullying smaller nations. Pompeo, who will also visit Indonesia, pressed each country to push back against increasing Chinese assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific.

U.S. officials complain that development and infrastructure projects benefit China more than the presumed recipients — a refrain Pompeo repeated with Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Dine sh Gun award en a. Pompeo said the country could be “a beacon” for freedom and democracy in the region as long as it retained its “full sovereignty.”

“That is quite a contrast to what China seeks,” Pompeo said. “The Chinese Communist Party is a predator. The United States comes in a different way. We come as a friend and a partner.”

President Go tab hay a Ra japak sat old Pompeo that he is not ready to compromise his country's sovereignty in relations with other nations, the president's office said.

He defended Chinesefunded projects, saying Beijing has helped develop his country' s infrastructure and that Sri Lanka has not been caught in a “debt trap” as a result, it said.

Gun award en a also appeared unwilling to get involved int hes pat with China, and said Sri Lanka is willing to cooperate with all friendly countries.

“Sri Lanka is a neutral, non-aligned country committed to peace,” he said. “We hope to continue in our relations with the United States and with other parties.”

Earlier this month, Beijing announced that it would provide Sri Lanka with a $ 90 million grant to help rural development, after Rajapaksa sought help from a visiting Chinese delegation in disproving a perception that China-funded megaprojects are “debt traps.”

Similarly, the Maldives, a tiny archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean known for its luxury tourist resorts, is facing major debt of more than $1 billion for Chinese infrastructure projects. President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has expressed concern about the amount.

In a nod to U.S. concerns about Chinese influence, Pompeo announced that the U.S. would open an embassy in the Maldives for the first time since the countries established diplomatic relations in 1966.