The Trump Administration & US - Indo-Pacific Relations

This resource tracked statements, developments, visits, and other interactions in US-Indo-Pacific relations under the President Trump administration. Special focus was given to the comments and activities of President Donald J. Trump; Vice President Mike Pence; United States Trade Representative Ambassador Robert E. Lighthizer; Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, Jr.; former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson; former Secretary of Defense James Mattis; and former Secretary of Defense Dr. Mark Esper.

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Secretary Esper's Op-Ed in "The Straits Times" on US Indo-Pacific Policy

"As an Indo-Pacific nation, the United States is committed to ensuring the region remains free and open for all, and upholding the rules and norms that have secured prosperity for nations of all sizes.

In the year since the Department of Defence released the Indo-Pacific Strategy Report, we have made great strides across the three pillars of our strategy: preparedness, strengthening partnerships, and promoting a more networked region - but there is still much more work to be done.

First, under preparedness, we are prioritising…

Remarks by President Trump on Protecting America’s Seniors - China and North Korea

"Q Mr. President, you had said that China is doing everything it can to make sure you don’t get reelected. What specifically are they doing?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, China doesn’t want to see me elected, and the reason is that we’re getting billions and billions of dollars — many billions of dollars a month from China. China never gave our country anything. China gave us nothing. Not 10 cents. And whether it was Biden in charge of China, which was a joke because he ripped…

Secretary Pompeo With Martha Raddatz of ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos - North Korea and China

"QUESTION: Good morning, Mr. Secretary. There are reports this morning – I want to talk about North Korea first, before we get to China – that shots were fired from North Korea into a South Korean guard tower on the DMZ and that the South fired back after a warning. What can you tell us about that?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Well, Martha, thanks for having me on this morning. I’ve seen that reporting, too. I’ve seen some of our internal information as well. We can confirm…

Secretary Pompeo With Scott Sands of The Scott Sands Show - China and North Korea

"QUESTION: What can you tell us about what the hell is happening in North Korea? Do we know anything officially about Kim Jong-un?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Well, we know we’ve not been able to identify a public appearance of his for now a little over two weeks – not unheard of, but unusual. But beyond that, I don’t have much that I can share with you today. We are continuing to monitor closely. We are working to make sure we’re prepared for whatever eventuality there is…

Secretary Pompeo With Shannon Bream of Fox News - China and North Korea

"QUESTION: All right, so let’s start there. China says stop running disinformation; they are the ones who are the victim of a disinformation campaign. We know the President has talked publicly about investigations he’d like to see underway by U.S. intel and others. How confident are you saying – in saying that this actually started in that lab in Wuhan, and what more will we know from these investigations?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Well, Shannon, here’s what we know for sure: This virus originated in Wuhan, China…

Secretary Pompeo At a Press Availability - China and North Korea

"Moving to a second category, our mission to protect human rights and freedom around the world.

I talked about this a little bit last week. We continue to monitor with growing concern Beijing’s increasing efforts to interfere with Hong Kong’s governance. The erosion of Hong Kong’s freedoms is inconsistent with the promises that the Chinese Communist Party itself made under One Country, Two Systems. Any effort to impose draconian national security legislation on Hong Kong would be inconsistent with Beijing’s promises, and would impact American…

Secretary Pompeo With Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt, and Brian Kilmeade of Fox and Friends - China and North Korea

"QUESTION: They’re telling us to mind our own business; that’s what China is telling us. Let’s bring in Mike Pompeo, Secretary of State. Good morning to you.

SECRETARY POMPEO: Ainsley, it’s great to be with you this morning.

QUESTION: Can you believe that? They’re telling us to mind our own business, that we’re lying through our teeth. Meanwhile we have almost 60,000 people dead, so many people out of work, and they’re telling us to mind our own business. How are we going to –…

Remarks by President Trump During the Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing - North Korea

"Q Mr. President, you, a couple days ago, said that you might reach out to Kim Jong Un directly, but also that you were working to find out if those reports about him being in possible medical trouble were true. I’m wondering if you’ve either —

THE PRESIDENT: I hope he’s not in medical trouble.

Q Well —

THE PRESIDENT: I hope he’s —

Q — have you heard anything from North Korea or —

THE PRESIDENT: I’ve gotten along very well with him. And…

Remarks by President Trump During the April 27, 2020 Coronavirus Task Force in Press Briefing - China and North Korea

"Q Mr. President, Charlie Spiering from Breitbart News. And a majority of polls show that Americans blame China for the spread of the coronavirus, and yet they’re taking advantage of the crisis to make the world more dependent on their supply chains. How do you get — how do you hold China accountable and how do you keep our country — how do you incentivize our businesses?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, Charlie, there are a lot of ways you can hold them accountable. We’re doing very…

Secretary Pompeo at a Press Availability - China and North Korea

"Turning to the World Health Organization, I want to spend a few minutes telling the American people a little bit more about the problems that we’re trying to work our way through.

The WHO has two primary functions. First, it’s a regulator and an advisory role, and a health emergency and humanitarian aid operation on top of that.

After the first SARS outbreak in 2003, the United States led the reform of the WHO, the WHO rules that govern how countries report on public health…

Secretary Pompeo With Sean Hannity of Fox News - China and North Korea

"QUESTION: Here’s our Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who joins us. Mr. Secretary, I’ve seen a lot. I wrote a book, Deliver Us from Evil, in 2004. It talked about over a hundred million people killed in the last century alone. And I look at this – when they stopped travel from Wuhan to the rest of China, from China to Wuhan, but they left it open internationally, then they scooped up all of the protective gear and now profiteering, and then they kept the…

Secretary Pompeo With Laura Ingraham of Fox News - China and North Korea

"QUESTION: Joining me now exclusively is our Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being here tonight. Earlier this week, I said that the global community should demand that Tedros and his cronies resign in order to just get this behind everyone. What’s the state of play regarding our relationship right at this moment with the WHO?

SECRETARY POMPEO: Well, Laura, thanks for having me on. First of all, as you said, the President has stopped all U.S. taxpayer funding for the…