The U. S. vice president accused China of “meddling” in U. S. politics in a harshly critical speech.
On October 4, U. S. Vice President Mike Pence gave a blistering speech about China, criticizing the Chinese government’s policies across the political, economic, and military realms and outlining the Trump administration’s response. “As we speak, Beijing is employing a whole of government approach… to advance its influence and benefit its interests in the U. S.,” Pence declared, speaking from the Hudson Institute in Washington, D. C.
Pence’s speech had been widely anticipated since President Donald Trump accused China of “attempting to interfere in our upcoming 2018 election” last week. Trump did not provide any specifics or evidence, but a White House official told reporters that the vice president would expand on the claim in a speech to be made this week. Indeed, Pence’s remarks outlined a Chinese political influence campaign intended to interfere in U. S. “domestic politics and policy,” but nothing in the vice president’s comments rises to the level of outright election interference (for example, attempts to hack into voting machines).
Much of Pence’s speech recapped and combined previous administration rhetoric regarding the U. S.-China relationship. Citing the 2017 National Security Strategy, Pence reiterated the U. S. view that it is engaged in “great power competition” with China. Along those lines, Pence was harshly critical of Chinese government policy across the spectrum, from economics and trade to military expansion to human rights. “China has chosen economic aggression, which has in turn emboldened its growing military,” Pence declared, while also slamming the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for making “a sharp U-turn toward control and oppression” within its own borders.
Pence repeated Trump administration concerns about unfair trade practices – quotas, tariffs, forced technology transfers, and subsidies “given out like candy” — and pledged to continue the U. S. trade war against China until a “fair and reciprocal trade deal is made.” He also criticized China for its military buildup, including in the South China Sea, and its “debt diplomacy” toward other countries, with Sri Lanka held up as a prime example. On the human rights front, Pence touched on the usual points, from China’s “unparalleled surveillance state” to the persecution of Christians, Buddhists, and Muslims (addressed by the vice president in that order).
“A country that oppresses its own people rarely stops there,” Pence noted, before accusing China of a “comprehensive and coordinated campaign to undermine support for the president, our agenda, and our nation’s most cherished ideals.
