Pompeo criticizes China and long-held US views on country

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is lashing out at China and accusing the Chinese Communist Party of adopting policies that run counter to U.S. interests.

He’s also criticizing previous American administrations going back to Richard Nixon for accommodating Beijing by ignoring fundamental differences in the U.S. and Chinese systems and wishing for reform.

In a speech to the conservative Hudson Institute in New York on Wednesday, Pompeo said China must be confronted rather than coddled on numerous fronts. Those range from its trade practices to human rights and its aggression in the South China Sea and toward Taiwan.

Pompeo’s remarks were the second harshly critical speech about China from a senior Trump administration official in a week. Vice President Mike Pence delivered a similar critique of China last Thursday.