U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said South Korea and other allies can be "good partners" in efforts to safeguard Western values from Chinese threats.
Pompeo made the remarks Sunday in an interview with Fox News, apparently aimed at reinforcing Washington's call for other countries to join its anti-China campaign.
The top diplomat said the Chinese Communist Party's military advances are real.
He said the U.S. can be good partners with allies from India, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Brazil, Europe, and all around the world to ensure "next century remains a Western one," modeled on the freedoms in the United States.
Pompeo repeatedly described China's ruling party as "aggressive" and an "authoritarian" regime that "views itself as intent upon the destruction of Western ideas, Western democracies and Western values."
He also claimed that European countries that had been reluctant to join the U.S. initiative to refrain from using Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies were starting to "recognize the risk" in light of the company's connection with the Chinese government.
The Trump administration has accused China of causing the coronavirus pandemic by withholding information and blamed it for its push for security laws intended at tightening control on Hong Kong.
Such moves have given way to fresh concerns about Seoul falling into the pressure of having to choose sides between the U.S., its traditional ally, and China, its largest trading partner.
<Photo: Yonhap News>
