POMPEO TRIP MARKS US RE-ENGAGEMENT WITH OVERLOOKED CENTRAL EUROPE

BUDAPEST : When US secretary of state Mike Pompeo visits Hungary, Slovakia and Poland this week he wants to make up for a lack of US engagement that opened the door to more Chinese and Russian influence in central Europe, administration officials say. On a tour that includes a conference on the Middle East where Washington hopes to build a coalition against Iran, Pompeo begins on Monday in Budapest, the Hungarian capital that last saw a secretary of state in 2011 when Hillary Clinton visited. On Tuesday he will be in Bratislava, Slovakia, for the first such high-level visit in 20 years. Washington is concerned about China’s growing presence, in particular the expansion of Huawei Technologies, in Hungary and Poland.