I want to thank the family members who have lost loved ones in their service to our country. From lexington to valley forge to all the other fields of battle, i would like to thank them. I want to begin with a few observations on china. The medias focus on the current pandemic risks missing the Bigger Picture of the challenges presented by the Chinese Communist party. First, basic facts. China has been ruled by a brutal authoritarian regime, a communist regime, since 1949. For several decades, we thought the regime would become more like us through trade, scientific exchange, diplomatic outreach. It did not happen. We greatly underestimated the degree to which beijing is ideologically hostile to free nations. The whole world is waking up to that fact. A few reported this past week that 66 of americans have an unfavorable view of china. That is a direct result of the Chinese Communist partys choices, which are influenced by the nature of the regime. The nature of that regime is not new. Second point. The Chinese Communist partys response to the covid19 outbreak in wuhan has accelerated our understanding of communist china. The party shows to destroy live virus samples instead of securing them. The Peoples Liberation army has claimed more features in the south china sea. They sank a vietnamese fishing boat, threatened Malaysian Energy prospector, and declared a unilateral fishing ban. The United States condemns these unlawful acts. The Chinese Communist party chose to threaten australia with economic retribution for a simple act of asking for an independent inquiry into the origins of the virus. That is not right. We stand with australia and the more than 120 nations who have taken up the call for an inquiry into the origins of the virus. The Chinese Communist party also chose to pressure the who Inspector General and excluded taiwan. The who has had ties to beijing long before this pandemic. That is deeply troubling. President xi claims china has acted with responsibility. I wish that were so. It has been 142 days since doctors at wuhan Central Hospital first share information about a virus. Yet, today, as we all sit here this morning, beijing continues to deny investigators access to relevant facilities, to withhold samples, to censor discussion of of the pandemic within china, and more. If the Chinese Communist party was to demonstrate real openness, it could he be as he easily hold press conferences, like this very press conference, and allow reporters to ask anything they would like. Third, chinas contributions to fighting the pandemic are paltry compared to the costs they have imposed on the world. This has cost roughly 90,000 american lives. More than 36 million americans have lost their jobs since march. Globally, 300,000 lives, as much as 9 trillion around the world. The United States has responded with about 10 billion to benefit the international response, everything from Vaccine Research to humanitarian aid. That is compared to a promise of 2 billion from the chinese. Unforeseen if they would fulfill that commitment. Private businesses, charities, citizens have provided an additional amount of money. There is no country that remotely rivals with the United States has done to help combat this terrible virus. Announceam pleased to millions in more assistance raising our commitments since the outbreak began. In addition to that funding, the usaid and the state department and Interamerican Foundation are providing 200 million in assistance for venezuela as well. That is what we do all around the world. We will help the world recover from this pandemic. Turning to taiwan, i want to say congratulations to the president. The process has matured into a model for the world despite great pressure from outside. Taiwan has demonstrated the wisdom of giving people a voice and a choice. In hong kong, our decision on whether or not to identify hong kong as having a high degree of autonomy from china is still pending and we are closely watching what is going on. This week, demonstrators were from a procedural regulator by legislators. Activists were hauled into court. Actions like these make it more difficult to assess whether hong kong remains highly autonomous from mainland china. We are also keeping an eye on human rights. I was pleased that france arrested a person who is alleged to have played a key role in the rwandan genocide. I urge all sides to refrain from provocations and allowed her to be an election with no violence to allow every citizen the chance to exercise their democratic rights. Nicaragua too. We are concerned about reports of hospitals filling up and bodies being buried under cover of night, pointing to a more severe situation then the regime is acknowledging. We are concerned that individuals around the world, including journalists, have been detained based on their public statements or activities regarding covid19. The u. S. Condemns all such uses of the pandemic as a pretext for repression. On to better news. Last week, we saw three huge diplomatic wins. Shipped itstates developmentrude oil and dollars would be less dependent crude oil from those who see the world differently. We are the largest producer of oil and gas in the world. Nations want enhanced energy security. Deals crafted with a respect for property rights, free enter them and the rule of law, come talk to us. In afghanistan, the United States welcomed the political settlement by the president. We urged the leaders to channel the momentum to speed the governments entry into negotiations. We need all factions to get into talks. We need violence reduced. We are working hard to meet the critical objective of getting peace and reconciliation in afghanistan. I am proud of the state department and commerce department, who worked hard to bring Taiwan Semiconductor manufacturing corporations to arizona. That deal was an integral part of a string of accomplishments we call the 5g National Security trifecta, something we have been working on. The ended states closed a loophole last week huawei used to circumvent export controls by designing semiconductors abroad. The third part of the trifecta is something ive mentioned before. 5g data must only transit through trusted equipment. I had a good conversation with a secretary on making sure our military bases participate in the 5g initiative as well. Today marks two years since i began a campaign to make iran behave like a normal nation. We continue to follow through on that commitment. Internationalt public shipping lines goes into effect. The United States government provided guidance to prevent exposure to activities related. The Maritime Community is warned that doing business with these vessels risks severe consequences. It also tells the regime in tehran to respect its own people. The United States announces it is opposing sanctions on 12 iranian individuals and entities. One of those sanctioned is the current minister of the interior of iran. We have reason to believe that the individual who gave orders authorizing Iranian Police forces to use lethal force on Peaceful Protesters inside of it iran. His evil commands killed iranian citizens. We are proud to meet out what justice we can on behalf of the slain and silenced in iran. Finally, we mark the anniversary of the disappearance of a person in afghanistan. Our colleagues at the fbi have renewed the offer of 1 million for information towards his return and my Team Continues to press toward that goal through diplomatic channels. The wellbeing of american citizens comes first. With that, i am happy to take questions. Good morning. On taiwan, you mentioned the democratically elected president , a few hours ago, was inaugurated to continue her second term. We saw a message from the deputy National Security advisor messagese and a video from assistant secretary stillwell. I question for you is how does the United States envision its relationship with taiwan and taiwans global participation in the coming years. If i may come a trump mentioned last week that the u. S. May cut off all relations with china. Would you like to weigh in your thoughts. Should the United States have a ponder an official relationship with taiwan based on shared values of democracy, religious freedom, and human rights . Sec. Pompeo we congratulated the winner of the election there. We were happy to see that. My congratulations were in english, not mandarin. It was the best that i can do. We understand the importance of the work we have done there. The importance of the history of agreements with the United States and china. It is the right solution to maximize stability in the states. The president talked about how we are going to respond, how he is beginning to think about responding to the calamity that has befallen the world as a result of the actions of the Chinese Communist party. I do not want to get ahead of him in terms of talking about how the administration shall respond, but you can already see the outline. You can already see how we are beginning to work to make sure we get america first, that we get this Foreign Policy right, and that we respond to these risks that china presents to the United States in an appropriate way. You saw yesterday that the department of defense made an announcement about rare earth minerals. So that, again, we would not be dependent on a nation that has demonstrated its unreliability. Its willingness to steal our intellectual property. All the things that, frankly, for decades, and this is not remotely partisan. Democrat president s, republican president s, turn the other way. The 1. 5 billion people in this opportunity for markets. This hope that engagement would lead to a change in the behavior of the Chinese Communist party. It did not happen. Trumps been serious about making sure we did the right things for the american people. A know he will. I know he will continue to do it and we continue to work on this to develop an appropriate way to think about how to get the Chinese Communist party and china to behave in a way that is consistent with the way we ask every nation to be. Night, the Palestinian Authority abdicated all agreements with the United States. To have any agreement on that . And can you comment on the . Rocess of annexation prior to the announcement by mr. Netanyahu . Sec. Pompep we note the announcement by the boss. We were in negotiation with our teams there. We hope that security arrangements will continue to be in place and the work on the ground will continue to keep palestinians safe. I am not sure what to make of his statement, but i am regretful that he has decided to abrogate those agreements. We laid out very clear vision for how peace could be brought. We ask the israelis and the palestinians to agree that that would be the basis for negotiations between them. The israelis have accepted that. The palestinians have continued to refuse to simply sit down and enter into negotiation based on trumps vision for peace there. We know that vision for peace will lead to better lives for the palestinian people. It acknowledges that in a clear and unambiguous way. We hope the Palestinian Authority will see that is in their peoples best interest and we can move out in that way. The last thing to say is i was in israel last week. We had conversations about how we can move this forward. We will continue to work with all the parties involved to try to get that outcome. You can see how the middle east has changed. You can see how you now have the most antisemitic country in the world, the Islamic Republic ever of iran, pitted against arab nations and israel. They understand the great threat in the middle east is very different than it may have been a decade ago. That threats now emanates from iran and you can see other to takeworking together on risk across the middle east and the president s vision of peace is an important component of that. Several Senate Republicans say they want a specific explanation as to why the administration fired the Inspector General here. Senator grassley says an expression of lost confidence is not sufficient. Will you provide congress a more detailed explanation on why you recommended the firing to the president and will the state department make that Foreign AffairsCommittee Deadline for documents this friday at 5 00 . Sec. Pompeo there has been discussion about this. I have read a number of reports. Let me say three things. First, the president has the unilateral right to choose who he wants to be has Inspector General at every agency in the federal government. They are president ially confirmed positions and like all of us they serve at the pleasure of the president. In this case, i recommended to the president that steve linick should be terminated. Frankly, we should have done it some time ago. I am happy to take one more. You have said that mr. Linick was undermining the departments mission. What exactly does that mean . Can you give us examples . Even the president does not know know what that means. He says he did not know the guy before you mentioned it. What specifically has mr. Linick done . Sec. Pompeo i dont talk about personnel matters. I dont week to yall. I cannot give you specificity. We will share with the appropriate people the rationale, but there should be no mistake. Is there a secret . Sec. Pompeo i appreciate the question. Lets be clear. There were claims that this was for retaliation for some investigation that the Inspector Generals office was engaged in. Patently false. I have no sense of what investigations were taking place inside of the inspectors office. I cannot possibly be retaliating. I heard the various stories that someone was walking my dog to sell arms to my drycleaner. Its all crazy. I did not have access to that information, so i could not possibly have retaliated. There is one exception. I was asked a series of questions in writing. I responded to those questions with respect to a particular investigation that was sometime earlier this year. I responded to those questions. I do not know the scope, the nature of that investigation other than what i have seen from the questions. I did what was right. I do not know if that investigation is continuing. I do not have any sense of that. It is not possible for there to have been retaliation. Heres the last thing to think about as you see the stories that have been leaked to the press. This is all coming through the office of senator menendez. I do not get my ethics guidance from a man who is criminally prosecuted, case number 15155. A man whose Senate Colleagues said that he was taking bribes. That is not someone who i look to for ethics guidance. So i will continue to do the right thing. I will continue to make sure the state department is served by every employee and that it continues to deliver on behalf of the american people. What about the house Foreign Affairs committee . Sec. Pompeo thank you. Everybody have a great day and a wonderful memorial day weekend to you. [indiscernible] tonight, testimony from epa administrator Andrew Wheeler on his agencys role during the coronavirus and future priorities. See it at 9 p. M. Eastern on cspan. The president s, from public affairs. Available now in paperback and ebook. 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