Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo on Sunday called for US assistance to help Taiwanese prepare to defend themselves, as he criticized what he called a “slow” US response to Russian threats against Ukraine.
Speaking in his first interview since returning from Taiwan, Pompeo shared his assessment of US foreign policy with Maria Bartiromo of Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures.
Pompeo said that Washington has been “behind” in helping Ukraine prepare to counter the Russian threat since the summer last year.
Photo: Reuters / Presidential Office
“We should have been helping the Ukrainians build forces and capability, and we were too late, too slow, too small at every turn,” he said.
As fears grow that Taiwan could be the next target of expansionist aggression, Pompeo called for the same mistake not to be repeated in Asia.
“We ought to be doing the things that we failed to do last summer for the Ukrainian people, we ought to be doing for Taiwan,” he said, touting the arms sales he oversaw as secretary of state under former US president Donald Trump.
Taiwanese “are prepared to do the hard work themselves,” but need support from the US, Japan and South Korea, he added.
At the same time, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is watching Washington’s response to global issues, including the invasion of Ukraine and the botched evacuation of Afghanistan in August last year, Pompeo said.
“He is watching the United States get rolled by [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, and Xi Jinping is watching the things that America is prepared to do to help our friends and allies around the world,” he said.
Asked whether he thought an attack on Taiwan was imminent, Pompeo said that Xi has made clear his intention to “unify” with Taiwan, but it is hard to know how and when it might happen.
“I only know this: It is not predetermined whether he will be successful at that,” he said. “He will be successful if we’re scared, if we think that taking action to support the Taiwanese people is provocative to Xi Jinping.”
“If we don’t help the Taiwanese people prepare to defend themselves, this will only embolden Xi Jinping,” he added.
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