{ "error": "", "type": "text", "title": "Secretary Michael R. Pompeo With Bill Hemmer of Fox News - China and North Korea", "slug": "secretary-michael-r-pompeo-with-bill-hemmer-of-fox-news-china-and-north-korea", "text": "
\"QUESTION:<\/strong> Thank you for expressing that here. Let\u2019s go to it now, okay? China. You said yesterday that the world would hold China accountable. How?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> So I can see it happening already. I can see nations who were doing business in China who are rethinking about how to do that. If you\u2019re buying products that are the result of the slave labor that\u2019s happening in the western part of China, if you\u2019re a country that\u2019s bent the knee to China because they tried to come fish in your waters that are rightly yours for your citizens to make their lives better, I can see nations all around the world that are reasserting their claims, reasserting their sovereignty. And of course, President Trump has done that here too.<\/p>\n For 40 years \u2013 this isn\u2019t partisan, Bill \u2013 for 40 years we\u2019ve had administrations that have just looked the other way and allowed China to trample on us. And President Trump said no more; we\u2019re going to have fair, reciprocal trade relationships; we\u2019re going to demand that the Chinese Communist Party treat Americans the same way that we treat people who go there. This is a simple understanding, and President Trump is going to demand that it happens. And of course, now too, we\u2019ve seen the virus that started in Wuhan, China cost the globe hundreds of thousands of people and trillions and trillions of dollars, and I believe the world is going to unite to hold the Chinese Communist Party accountable for having covered this up when they could have prevented so much of this tragedy.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> Name a few countries who have already lined up.<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> So the Europeans are getting in a better place today. You saw the United Kingdom announce yesterday they\u2019re not going to allow Chinese technology in their system. The Australians, the Japanese applauded the decision that we made about the South China Sea. Countries not only in Southeast Asia but in Asia more broadly, in Europe, have come to understand the threat that the Chinese Communist Party presents. The United States slept on this for too long. I think they all did too, and I think they\u2019re coming to a joint conclusion that it\u2019s time for the world to make sure that we get this right. For democracies and freedom-loving people around the world, it is an imperative that we push back against the challenge that the Chinese Communist Party presents to us all.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> There is a report out that there could be a ban on U.S. travel for Chinese party members and their families. Will you confirm that?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> Bill, we\u2019re working our way through, under the President\u2019s guidance, about how to think about pushing back against the Chinese Communist Party. You see it in trade, you see it in other economic activity, you see it in diplomatic engagement.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> So is the travel \u2013 I\u2019m sorry. Is the travel ban possible then?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> We\u2019re looking at the right way to think about this. We want to make sure we do it in a way that reflects America\u2019s tradition, and there are lots of ideas that are under review by the President and by our team.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> And this is one of them?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> Bill, I just \u2013 I don\u2019t comment on things we\u2019re working on inside. I know others do; I prefer to let the team work. And when we\u2019re prepared to present it to the President, we will, and we\u2019ll let him make the ultimate decision.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> One more question on China. We had a scientist on here the other day on this program from Hong Kong. She said she defected, said she fears for her life. She claims that human-to-human transmission occurred three weeks before the Chinese copped to it. Is she right on that point?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> I didn\u2019t see her remarks, but it is the case that the Chinese Communist Party was aware of human-human transmission before they shared this with the world, and that the World Health Organization itself was co-opted into the same effort to deny the world the knowledge it needed to respond to this threat, to this threat from the virus that emanated from Wuhan, China.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> You mentioned the UK a moment ago with regard to China. With regard to Russia, London is taking action against Russia. They believe the intelligence services out of Moscow have conducted vaccine cyber attacks. There are some suggesting they\u2019ve done the same against us here in the U.S. Has Moscow harmed our ability or intercepted our ability to develop an effective vaccine?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> Bill, I think our institutions are quite capable of continuing down the road, moving on this project. I do worry. I don\u2019t want to talk about that particular subject, but I had commented weeks ago about Chinese activity to do the same, to steal the intellectual property of the United States from the companies that are investing enormous resources in trying to find a vaccine to save hundreds, indeed hundreds of thousands, indeed millions of lives. I regret that other countries, instead of working the project and using their best minds and talents to solve this problem, are trying to steal it from Western democracies who are making real progress on these very vaccines. [...]<\/p> QUESTION:<\/strong> Two more questions. North Korea: You\u2019ve said there were no plans for a summit before the election. Has Pyongyang expressed an interest to talk again?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> So there\u2019s conversations that take place, Bill, at many levels and in many forms. We don\u2019t talk about them publicly very often. And what I said was we\u2019re not going to have a summit, we\u2019re not going to bring Chairman Kim and President Trump together, unless there\u2019s something they can accomplish.<\/p>\n If that were the case, if we got to a place where we could get a good outcome, a significant step along the way towards the world\u2019s objective of denuclearizing North Korea, we\u2019d find a way to bring the leaders together. But we\u2019ve just got a matter of months between here and the election, and I haven\u2019t seen evidence yet that we\u2019re going to reach the point where we can bring those leaders together.<\/p>\n I hope I\u2019m wrong. I hope we get the chance to do that. But I don\u2019t expect that we will.\"<\/p>",
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