China heavily criticises US Secretary of State Pompeo's visit to Asia -

Beijing: US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, recently paid a visit to Asia. Pompeo had declared that this visit was to stop the Chinese expansionism against the sovereignty of the countries from the Indian Ocean, South East Asia and the Indo-Pacific region. As expected, a vicious reaction has emanated from China over this, which has stated that Secretary of State Pompeo is spreading poison in the Asian countries against it. The Chinese mouthpiece Global Times appealed that the Asian countries should stay away from it.

Secretary of State Pompeo who visited India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia over the last five days, paid a surprise visit to Vietnam. Pompeo announced during this visit that the bilateral cooperation with Vietnam would be made comprehensive. The US Secretary of State also said that the United States would be making efforts to make the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia and Indo-Pacific sectors secured, peaceful and prosperous. Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc welcomed the US stand. Before this, even during his visits to four countries, including India, in the last five days, Pompeo repeatedly targeted Chinese expansionism.

The US Secretary of State avoided naming China during his Vietnam visit. However, infuriated by the visit of the US Secretary of State to Vietnam, the Chinese mouthpiece spewed fiery criticism on Pompeo. The Chinese representative accused that Pompeo is a very shrewd leader and has used his Asia visit to instigate these countries against China. But now, there is a need for the Asian countries to unite, and Pompeo is the one creating a divide in this unity. By stating that there are disputes between Asian countries, the Chinese mouthpiece asked not to allow others to benefit from these disputes. It accused Pompeo of being a hateful person.

Before this, China had claimed that Pompeo would not be able to achieve anything from this Asia visit. The Global Times had expressed confidence that the US conspiracy of making the Asian countries confront China will never succeed. Although the current Global Times reaction shows that the success of Pompeo’s visit has made China visibly restless.