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.
The Trump Administration & US - Indo-Pacific Relations
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Interview With Chris Wallace of Fox News - North Korea
"QUESTION: This week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un talked about dismantling missile test sites, nuclear fuel facilities. President Trump called it very positive: “We had very good news from North Korea, South Korea. They met, and we had some great responses. We’re making tremendous progress with respect to North Korea.” But the North Koreans have not agreed to give up a single missile, a single nuclear weapon, nor are they giving us the inventory of their arsenal. Is that tremendous progress?
SECRETARY POMPEO: You have…
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Secretary Pompeo's Interview With Chris Wallace of Fox News - China
"QUESTION: Let’s turn to China, where we are on the verge of a major trade war. The U.S. has imposed sanctions or tariffs on $250 billion of Chinese imports. The Chinese have retaliated. They have just announced they’re pulling out of a new round of trade talks this week. How hard is President Trump prepared to go in this faceoff with China, and for how long?
SECRETARY POMPEO: We know this much: The trade war by China against the United States has been going on…
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Secretary Pompeo's Interview With Chuck Todd of NBC - North Korea
"QUESTION: All right. I know – I’m short on time so I want to make the final issue North Korea. You may end up meeting with your counterpart. I believe there’s an invite there. Kim Jong-un seems to want to have another summit with President Trump. Any preconditions before that could happen again?
SECRETARY POMPEO: We have to make it work. That is, we have to --
QUESTION: What’s “make it work,” though?
SECRETARY POMPEO: We have to build it out, we have to set…
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Secretary Pompeo's Remarks at the 13th Annual Values Voter Summit - China
"Another example is in China. Hundreds of thousands, and possibly millions, of Uighurs are held against their will in so-called re-education camps, where they’re forced to endure severe political indoctrination and other awful abuses. Their religious beliefs are decimated. And we’re concerned too about the intense new government crackdown on Christians in China, which includes heinous actions like closing churches, burning bibles, and ordering followers to sign papers renouncing their faith."
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Secretary Pompeo's Remarks at the 13th Annual Values Voter Summit - North Korea
"Far and away the greatest highlight to date of my job as Secretary of State was bringing home three Americans from captivity in North Korea. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you.
It – it’s emotional still to speak about it. When Kim Dong-chul, Kim Hak-song, and Tony Kim got off our plane at about 2:30 a.m. at Andrews Air Force Base, their faces were bursting with tears of joy. They hugged and they wept with their families. And President Trump was on the tarmac to meet…
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Secretary Pompeo's Interview With Rich Edson of Fox News - North Korea
"QUESTION: And you revealed that North Korea has agreed to a deadline of 2021. What do you and what does the United States need to see by the end of this year?
SECRETARY POMPEO: Yeah. Well, look, we’re not going to set arbitrary deadlines in the interim. We’re hoping to see progress a little bit each day. We knew this would be a long process. It’s a complicated endeavor. But we’ve made incremental steps along the way. The visit from President Moon, the visits between…
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Secretary Pompeo's Interview With Rich Edson of Fox News - China
"QUESTION: On China, is the Chinese Government already interfering in U.S. politics? I know the National Security Advisor had mentioned that that is the case. And does the United States have more to worry about on that front – election interference – from the Chinese Government than it does from Russia, let’s say?
SECRETARY POMPEO: Rich, we worry about election interference from lots of places, certainly from China. We’ve seen what the Russians did back in 2016, and frankly, we know what the Russians have…
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Secretary Pompeo's Interview With Elise Labott of CNN - North Korea
"QUESTION: Let’s start with North Korea. You said yesterday you’re going to begin negotiations with the North Koreans, and you’ll be meeting with your foreign minister colleague up in New York. But how much do you think ultimately a deal with North Korea is going to end on the relationship between President Trump and Kim Jong-un?
SECRETARY POMPEO: So that relationship is certainly very important, as is the relationship between Chairman Kim and President Moon. They had their inter-Korean summit this past week where they…
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Secretary Pompeo's Interview With Barbara Plett Usher of BBC - North Korea
"QUESTION: Given the way that things are moving, do you think you can say that there’s no longer a nuclear threat from North Korea?
SECRETARY POMPEO: No, there’s still a threat. We still have work to do. But the good news is the threat is reduced from where it was. No test and no missile launches. To complete out a nuclear program, any good engineer will tell you you have to conduct tests, you still – there’s work to do. When we took office, the…
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Secretary Pompeo's Interview With Andrea Mitchell of MSNBC - North Korea
"QUESTION: And I wanted to ask you about North Korea first of all. President Moon is bringing a message from Kim Jong-un that he wants – South Korea wants – the U.S. to help in declaring peace, ending the conflict, the war, that has gone back all of these decades. Why should the U.S. reward Kim Jong-un when he has still not met any of your three demands: to declare his stockpile of weapons, to set a specific timetable for giving up these weapons, to…
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Secretary Pompeo's Call With Japanese Foreign Minister Kono
"Secretary Michael R. Pompeo spoke by phone with Japanese Foreign Minister Kono yesterday. They discussed the ongoing pressure campaign to achieve the final, fully verified denuclearization of the DPRK as agreed to by Chairman Kim Jong Un in Singapore. They also talked about the upcoming UN General Assembly and global security issues of importance to the U.S.-Japan alliance."