{ "error": "", "type": "text", "title": "Secretary Pompeo's Remarks to Traveling Press En Route to Bangkok, Thailand - Indo-Pacific", "slug": "secretary-pompeos-remarks-to-traveling-press-en-route-to-bangkok-thailand-indo-pacific", "text": "
\"SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> So just a couple things, if I may, just to sort of set what caused me to take this trip. So we\u2019ll be gathering with a bunch of countries that we have worked closely with on many different things, and you\u2019ll see that I\u2019ll have a series of bilats. Many of these are like-minded countries who share our vision for what the region should look like and how economic growth will \u2013 ought to be achieved. And so I\u2019m looking forward to that. I\u2019ve seen some of them recently, but some of them I haven\u2019t seen for a little bit as well.<\/p>\n We\u2019ll spend a fair amount of time, I\u2019m sure, talking about the opportunities in the Indo-Pacific, the fact that they nearly uniformly share our view that a rules-based, liberal understanding of the economy is the right way to grow theirs as well. So they\u2019re looking to partner with the United States, and so you\u2019ll see \u2013 see a bunch of folks \u2013 we\u2019ll talk about the Middle East Security Initiative. There\u2019s a \u2013 number of these countries have important products that flow through the Straits of Hormuz. We\u2019ll talk to them about that as well.<\/p>\n There is a broad range of topics, not exclusively limited to Asia and Southeast Asia, that we\u2019ll have conversations \u2013 and then I\u2019ll come back and I\u2019ll land in the Pacific islands to demonstrate America\u2019s continued commitment to not only Asia and Southeast Asia but to the Pacific islands as well. And of course, we\u2019ll see our Aussie friends, which will be great to reinforce that too just before they\u2019re coming to Washington. [...]<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> The news \u2013 let me ask you about North Korea. There are reports that the talks are finally going to be started. Do you have anything to say about that \u2013 where, when, how?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> I don\u2019t. I don\u2019t have anything. We think they\u2019ll be started before too long. I\u2019m very hopeful. Chairman Kim had said when the two leaders met at the DMZ that it could get started in a few weeks. It\u2019s taken a little bit longer than that. There\u2019s been a little bit of preliminary work to be done. But I hope \u2013 I never want to set a date. I hope before too long we will have Special Representative Biegun sitting with his \u2013 what I think will be a new counterpart from North Korea.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> You can\u2019t say when, or there\u2019s no \u2014<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> No, I can\u2019t say.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> Okay.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> There are reports that the North Koreans told the amnesty team in the DMZ last week that the start will resume very soon. Can you confirm that? And will you yourself have some engagement with North Korea during the Bangkok \u2014<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know. We don\u2019t anticipate that the North Koreans will be at the event in Bangkok, but if they are, I\u2019d look forward to the chance to meet with Foreign Minister Ri Yong Ho, would be great. We\u2019ll see if they are there, and if they are there, I am confident we\u2019ll meet.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> Okay. And just on Hong Kong, what will be your message during all those meetings, and will you be meeting with your Chinese counterpart to \u2013 what will you tell him about Hong Kong?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> (Inaudible) meeting with my Chinese counterpart. We\u2019ll have a small conference \u2013 a small group of us will get together for a little bit \u2013 so we\u2019ll talk to him about a whole host of issues. That will be taking place either during or at the tail end of the trade negotiations that Ambassador Lighthizer and Secretary Mnuchin are involved in.<\/p>\n With respect to Hong Kong, these are the people of Hong Kong asking their government to listen to them. So it\u2019s always appropriate for every government to listen to their people.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> Sir, we had a Chinese official just saying that the United States \u2013 suggesting somehow the United States is behind the protests and that the U.S. needs to provide an explanation for this. Do you have any reaction to that?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> Yeah. I think the protests are solely the responsibility of the people of Hong Kong, and I think they are the ones that are demanding that their government listen to them and hear their voices. It\u2019s \u2013 I saw these remarks as well. It\u2019s ludicrous on its face.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> What will you tell these ASEAN countries who are starting to turn to China? How will you lure them back to be within the U.S. sphere?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> So I wouldn\u2019t describe it as \u201clure back.\u201d We have great relationships. We have huge trading relationships with them. We partner with them on issues across a broad spectrum. So I wouldn\u2019t describe it as that, as if somehow today they were \u2013 I think that would be rude to describe them as vassal states \u2014<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> Rude?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> \u2014 of China today that need to be lured out of the clutches of China. It\u2019s just not factual \u2014<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> Well, they\u2019re not in the clutches, but they are turning to China.<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> No, it\u2019s just not \u2013 it\u2019s not factually accurate. They are looking for partners that are going to help them build out their economies and to take good care of their people. That\u2019s what every one of those governments wants.<\/p>\n And it is true the previous administration claimed they were pivoting to Asia, but I have seen literally no evidence of that having taken place. When I talk to my counterparts in those countries, they would probably be polite, but they would certainly probably indicate that the United States wasn\u2019t engaged, and that U.S. leadership wasn\u2019t as active and involved in the things that they care about \u2013 their security, their economies, and all of those things.<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> And you think you\u2019re pumping up that engagement?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> I know that we are. I know that we\u2019re more present. This is my third trip to Asia as Secretary of State. The President was \u2013 just this year the President\u2019s been here a couple times, involved in North Korea. We\u2019re working with the Japanese, South Koreans on all kinds of different economic matters.<\/p>\n Our Indo-Pacific strategy is well on its way to bearing fruit for not only them but for the United States, and we have watched these coalitions build out. We\u2019re working hard with the Indian Government to provide them with opportunities to grow their economy as well, so yeah. [...]<\/p>\n QUESTION:<\/strong> On Japan and South Korea will be there in Bangkok as well. Do you plan some kind of mediation in the tension there \u2013 there\u2019ve been between them in the last weeks?<\/p>\n SECRETARY POMPEO:<\/strong> So I\u2019ll meet with Foreign Minister Kang, I\u2019ll meet with Foreign Minister Kono, and then I\u2019ll meet with the two of them together, and we will encourage them to find a path forward. We think it\u2019s important. They\u2019re both great partners of ours; they\u2019re both working closely with us on our efforts to denuclearize North Korea. So if we can help them find a good place for each of their two countries, we certainly find that important to the United States, indeed, as well as to each of those two countries. So yeah, I hope we\u2019ll have a good conversation and we can help get to a good place.\"<\/p>",
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