US accepts EU offer to create dialogue on China: Pompeo

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US has accepted a proposal by European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to create a US-EU dialogue on China, the nation's top diplomat said Thursday.

The proposal was put forward last week during a videoconference.

The mechanism will discuss "the concerns we have about the threat China poses to the West and our shared democratic ideals," said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in a speech to the Brussels Forum, an annual event held by the German Marshall Fund.

"I look forward to kicking that off with High Representative Borrell just as soon as we can pull it together," he added.

In his remarks, Pompeo said the Chinese Communist Party's coronavirus "coverup" has "accelerated everyone’s awakening. Europeans, like Americans, are starting to find their voice."

"Clearly, there is a transatlantic awakening to the truth of what’s happening.

"We have to work together to continue the transatlantic awakening to the China challenge in the interest of preserving our free societies, our prosperity, and our future," he said.

On Monday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters after an EU-China summit that relations between the EU and China require cooperation and trust on both sides.

The EU has “one of the most strategically important and challenging” relationships with China, which is a “negotiating partner, an economic competitor and systemic rival,” said Von der Leyen.

Pompeo said he does not think the Chinese Communist Party intends to behave "in a way consistent with what we demand from each other in the transatlantic alliance."

"We do our level best to compete and to operate with a rules-based order, where you can go to our court systems and make a claim that is truly adjudicated in a fair and impartial way, absent politics," he added. "That doesn’t exist today."