Pompeo Continues on His Global China-Bashing Jaunt

Feb. 4, 2020 (EIRNS)—U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been traveling hither and thither in his attempt to discredit China’s Belt and Road Initiative and bring countries back into the “fold” of Anglo-American liberal model. In Kiev, he warned the Ukrainians that cooperating with China would not bring them any benefits, but that, under appropriate conditions, U.S. companies could come and invest in Ukraine, a subtle form of blackmail. He also spent time in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in order to attend a meeting of the C5+1 between the U.S. and the five Central Asian countries in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, which he will chair. In all of his meetings, he urged the need for them to cooperate with the U.S. to counter the overwhelming influence of Russia and China. In Kazakhstan, he thanked President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev for accepting refugees from Xinjiang and used the opportunity to condemn the educations centers (which are now closed) as “detention camps.” He also indicated that the Trump Administration would soon be issuing its new Central Asian Strategy, which will no doubt have the same orientation.

Given the close relations that these Central Asian countries have with their immediate neighbors, Russia and China, and given the fact that any U.S. initiative will be rich in words but poor in concrete projects, these countries will politely accept whatever the U.S. can provide, but without burning their bridges to the collaboration that has really brought benefits. Kazakhstan’s former President Nursultan Nazarbayev, still alive and kicking, was himself a co-sponsor of the Belt and Road with Xi Jinping, who first announced the project at a speechat Nazarbayev University in Astana (now, Nur-Sultan) on Sept. 7, 2013.