U.S. wants to build coalition to counter China

Talking next step for Beijing issues at ‘G7 level’

LONDON • U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States wants to build a global coalition to counter China as he accused Beijing of exploiting the coronavirus pandemic to further its own interests.

The secretary of state cast China as an aggressor, saying it had made illegal maritime claims, bullied Himalayan countries, covered up the coronavirus outbreak and exploited it to further its own interests in a “disgraceful” way.

“We hope we can build out a coalition that understands the threat and will work collectively to convince the Chinese Communist Party that it is not in their best interest to engage in this kind of behaviour,” Pompeo told reporters alongside British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab on a visit to London Tuesday.

“We want to see every nation who understands freedom and democracy ... to understand this threat that the Chinese Communist Party is posing to them.”

President Donald Trump identifies China as the United States’ main rival, and has accused President Xi Jinping of taking advantage over trade and not telling the truth over the novel coronavirus outbreak, which Trump calls the “China plague.”

Pompeo offered no evidence of how China had exploited the coronavirus.

At a private meeting of U.K. MPS, Pompeo alleged that Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director-general of the World Health Organization, had been “bought” by China.

He claimed that “when push came to shove, when it really mattered most,” people had died “because of the deal that was made.”

The WHO, and Tedros in particular, has been the subject of a wave of criticism from Trump, who has announced the U.S. would withdraw from the organization.

The U.K. and U.S. were discussing with allies “the next steps, including at G7 level,” according to Pompeo and Raab.

The top U.S. diplomat praised the U.K. for banning the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from its 5G mobile phone network, saying it was the right decision as data could have ended up in the hands of the Chinese Communist Party.

The U.S. and Australia have also banned Huawei, putting pressure on Canada to follow suit.

Canada is the last member of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance — which also includes New Zealand — to not restrict or ban the use of Huawei equipment in some form or another.

Ottawa has delayed releasing a decision on it.

Canada is locked in a major dispute with China following Beijing’s arrest of two

Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig. The arrests were in retaliation for Canada detaining Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou, who’s wanted in the U.S.

Pompeo’s call for a coalition against China comes a day after former prime minister Stephen Harper, writing in Britain’s Daily Telegraph, urged the U.K. to lead allies in the Indo-pacific region to counter China’s influence.

“How should the U.K. and its allies adapt to the Indo-pacific century, as China grows more powerful in economic and military terms?” Harper asked, adding, “the answer must always be to stick firmly to constitutional principles.”

“Britain and its allies must work together as much as possible to preserve the rules-based order on questions of economics, defence and security in the region,” he wrote.

“What next, then, for countries like Britain and my own, Canada, in this Indo-pacific century? First, we must avoid a China-centric view. That would cater to the more concerning aspects of Beijing’s own ambitions. But it would also overlook the myriad opportunities in one of the fastest-growing regions, where strong and independent nations form a geopolitical triangle stretching from India to Japan and reaching down to Australia.”

Countries like Japan, India, South Korea, Australia, Indonesia and Singapore had much to offer by way of mutual trade and co-operation on political, defence and diplomatic issues, he wrote.

Britain had strong ties in the region and could play a key role in the Indo-pacific region alongside its partners.

“Perhaps most importantly, Britain can position itself as a constructive intermediary in the region,” Harper wrote.

Beijing says the West — and Washington in particular — is gripped by anti-chinese hysteria and colonial thinking about the communist state.