17th United States secretary of state, pepe r. Sec. Pompeo thank you very much mike pompeo. Sec. Pompeo thank you that speech. It is an honor to be with you. A friend of freedom loving people all across the world. I dont know if you know this, but when it comes to strengthening transatlantic relations, anders really walks the walk. His son and grandchildren live in the United States. They are on both sides of the atlantic, bringing us together. Thank you for having me today. The invitationt to me, i said yes immediately. So many of these conference this that you all participate in and talk about what is wrong with the world, i want to focus on what is going right in the world today. What we have right now. And that is democracy, and we know it. And how to preserve it is the challenge. There is no nobler goal for all of us get i spent a few years of my life. I spent decades when i was a young soldier serving in germany, patrolling behind the iron curtain. I was seeing tyranny firsthand and i have dealt with all manner of regimes in my previous role as director of the eia and now in my current role as equity area of state of the unit secretary of state of the United States of america. There is nothing brave or visionary about oppressing your fellow men or women. Democracy is the only system of government that honors Human Dignity and personal freedom and progress for mankind. The corollary to capitalism is the greatest antiproperty program in all of history. I want to make a few brief remarks and i look forward to taking questions. Europe is idea that being forced to choose between the United States and china. I want to talk about that. Second, that it is costless to compromise your values. Everywhere i go, i talk to my counterparts about the reality of what we see in the world, especially in china. Europe, in the arctic, in ,entral asia, in africa in the pacific islands, for many years, the west, in an era of hope, believed we could improve the lives of the chinese people. That was the bargain. That was the bet. Democracy inde of Eastern Europe and in the former soviet union 30 years ago made us believe, perhaps reasonably, that the spread of freedom in every nation was inevitable. We opened ourselves to an authoritarian regime that we knew was hostile to democratic values. Along the way, the Chinese Communist party made a bet. It bet it could take advantage of our goodwill while showing us they wanted a cooperated relationship. He said hide your strength and bide your time. Talked about why this has happened. Its a complicated story. The fault is not material here. It is not important. Over decades, americans, European Countries invested in china with enormous optimism. Inhad a Business Operation china ourselves. We outsourced our supply Chain Solutions and, we opened our educational institutions to pla affiliated students, we welcomed Chinese State backed investment in our own countries and now we are deeply intertwined. Even so, even so, we must acknowledge a set of facts about who and what we are dealing with. And i think we are seeing this. All across the world, this is becoming more apparent each and every day. Chinese communist party decreed an end to freedom in hong kong, violating the u. N. Registered treaty and the rights of its citizens, one of just Many International treaties at the Chinese Communist party has violated. Hasral secretary xi greenlighted a Brutal Campaign of repression against chinese muslims. Human Rights Violations on a scale we have not seen since world war ii. Pla has escalated border tensions. We see them today in india, the worlds most populist democracy. Militarize is in the South China Sea and illegally claims more territory, threatening vital sea lanes, a promise it broke again. The ccp is not just a rogue actor in its own neighborhood. If it was, we might think differently about it. It impacts us all. They lied about the coronavirus and it spread to the rest of the world while pressure name pressuring the World Health Organization to assist in a coverup campaign. A failure of transparency that continues even today. Hundreds of thousands of people have died and the Global Economy is decimated. Even now, months in the pandemic, we do not have access to a live virus, we dont have access to facilities, and information about patients in december in wuhan were made unavailable. Pushing disinformation and malicious cyber campaigns to undermine our government and drive a wedge between the united 8chan europe United States and europe. You have seen this all, and everyone in this room knows that the Chinese Communist party strong arms businesses to do business with huawei, an arm of the surveillance state. It is attacking european sovereignty. Golden take off the blinders of economic ties and see that the chinese challenge is not just at the gates. It is in every capital, every borough, every province. Every investment from a Chinese State owned enterprise should be viewed with suspicion. Europe faces a china challenge. Just as the United States does, just as our south american and africanamerican and middle eastern and asian friends who, too. I had a chance earlier this week on monday to speak with my copenhagen democracy summit counterparts. With myh my. U. Count e. U. Counterparts. It is the Chinese Communist party forcing this choice. The choice is not between the United States. It is between freedom and tyranny. The party that wants to throw away the progress we in the free world have made through nato and other institutions, both formal and informal institutions, and adopt a new set of rules and norms to accommodate them as in beijing. I do not believe that there is any uniquely european or american way to face this choice. Theres also no way to straddle these alternatives without abandoning who we are. Democracies that are dependent on authoritarians are not worthy of their name. Look, the good news is my european friends, even this week, its not uniform. There are different thoughts in a few different countries, but they are waking up to this. Them. Heard some of they question whether the democratic way of life can win. Thisng relishes uncertainty. They should not be confident. We are winning. This is what i talked about in my remarks in munich. One ccp diplomat in france recently said some westerners beginning to lose confidence in liberal democracy. Some western countries have become psychologically weak. Is not fragile in the way the Chinese Communist party believes it is. Democracy is strong. We defeated fascism, we won the cold war. It is authoritarianism that is fragile. Ccp proctor but ccp propagandists work hard to maintain their grip on power. Work hard tosts maintain their grip on power. In some ways, it already does. We can talk about this in some length. While i do not believe democracy is fragile, it does require careful stewardship and constant vigilance. Inave been encouraged private conversations with allies who are taking their responsibilities seriously. I had a vigorous discussion earlier this week. We debated what democracies ought to be engaged in. That is precisely the kind of debate we should have. It was a good meeting. We will continue our conversations with china. Positive steps abound. A new alliance on china substantially comprised of european leaders is adding new members weekly. Denmark has raved up to the ccp. The United Kingdom is moving towards securing its networks from huawei. The checks are standing up to the prcs coercive diplomacy. The swedes have closed all of their confucius institutes that resides on their soil. Our nato allies have committed to defense spending between now and 2024. Gave visionary remarks about the mandate to stand up for freedom and democracy in the asiapacific region. Speak. Let anders democracy is not easy. The whole world can see how we have tough debates like my country is having right now. At struggle reflects commitment to fundamental values and our constant striving towards a more perfect union. Share those values with our european friends. I hope i will hear more public statements from europe because all of our people deserve to know about it and america is ready to stand with you. Lets speak clearly and more importantly, lets act decisively. Lets not leave any confusion about the choice between tyranny and freedom. Ourrs, look forward to conversation. God bless you all. Fmr sec. Rasmussen thank you very much, mike. Thank you, mr. Secretary. I also appreciate your willingness to answer some questions. My first question is regarding china. Thew days ago, you met with Chinese State counselor who is considered one of the architects of chinas foreign policy. Chinas news agency put a positive spin on the meeting. They wrote both sides fully elaborated on their stances, agreeing that this was a constructive dialogue. And you agreed to maintain contact and communications. This, iead texts like might be thinking something is going on, so my question to you is could it be that the United States and china secretly are preparing new initiatives to reduce tensions while publicly, you are maintaining a tough stance . One in the audience has asked a question whether we could expect the u. S. To take new initiatives. Visavis china. It was aeo anders, long overdue meeting. It was a long meeting. We met for some six hours or so. Out what itaked think for it was pretty familiar positions. As for me, i articulated exactly what i articulated here this morning. In aca is engaging response to Chinese Communist party and aggression in the way america has not done for the past 20 years. It is not political. We had republican and democrat president s who allowed china to have deeply nonreciprocal relationships, not just on trade, which of course is true, but we responded to their military use of military force by moving backwards. Their use of diplomatic coercion by retreating. Donald trump will not permit that. And we made that clear. You referenced statements. Those are statements. I spent a good deal of my time we are justh watching actions. Its no longer enough to listen to what the Chinese Communist party is saying. We can see their actions. I went through a few of them. Hong kong, tibet, she and john tibet, what they are doing in india, the economic zones. The coercion on australia when they had the audacity to demand that there be an investigation of how this virus got from wuhan to milan. How this fives got from wuhan to tehran this virus got from wuhan to tehran, to oklahoma city, to belgium, to spain, decimating the Global Economy. It was a very frank conversation. We still do not have the answers. The epidemiologists need those answers to take on this challenge. If the chinese thymus party cannot rise to that, forget what they say. If they cannot rise to that level, what every democratic nation would have done in response to a virus that began in our nation, we would have participated in a Global Response where we shared locally, and we resolved the problems. Instead, they did what authoritarian regimes do. They disappeared doctors. They squirreled information away. Informationied that could have reduced a lot of risk and a lot of cost. That is the nature of the conversation that we had. I think it is always useful to be in a room together and to have a conversation and to share the principles upon which your policy is based. That is the conversation we had earlier this week. Fmr sec. Rasmussen you mentioned hong kong, and recently, you indicated that the United States might consider to withdraw the special status for hong kong. Which measures could you imagine regarding trade, travel, Currency Exchange . Will hong kong be treated like all other chinese cities . Sec. Pompeo it appears that that is chinas intention. Hear from my european counterparts, they say we do not want to choose. I always reminds them that the other side gets to choose, too. Willhen you ask, well, hong kong be treated as any other chinese city . It will be to the extent that the chinese choose to treated that way. I have not seen what happened overnight. The Chinese Communist party appears intent on denying a National Security law that would deny a significant amount of freedom that they promised to the people of hong kong would last 50 years. We should all watch closely. That is not that far off now. We should all watch very closely where these elections are permitted to take place in a free and fair fashion. To the extent that these elections are delayed, postponed, canceled, or somehow not treated in a way that is fair and open, i think that will tell us everything we need to know about the Chinese Communist partys intentions with respect to freedom in hong kong. President trump has made very clear that to the extent the chinese pop communist party Chinese Communist party trees hong kong elections and in shanghai, we will treat them the same. We have many agreements that are unique between the United States and hong kong, separate and different from those we have from beijing. We will move away from every one of those. Second, the president has made clear that we have a responsibility to hold accountable those inside of china who failed to live up to those agreements as well. We are working our way through a decisionmaking process to determine who those decisionmakers were and what the appropriate mechanism is to hold them accountable. We do not want to harm the people of hong kong. Toy are the people we aim get the benefit of the bargain they made with the United Kingdom but to the extent the Chinese Communist party denies that we are responsible to all the relevant parties accountable. Fmr sec. Rasmussen but what law happen if the security leads to imprisonment of democracy activists, etc. , in the autumn . What could you imagine to do . Sec. Pompeo i dont want to get into particular decisions for it i dont want to foreclose anything the president may choose to do or not to do. We are making our way through that process. Two things to think about. One is what will the people of hong kong do . We have watched them. They have simply asked, with the mainland chinese, to live up to the commitments that were made. We are on your 27 of a 50 year deal. For 50 years. P somebody walks away at the halfway point, could not be happier. You are 23, i guess it is. It will be interesting to see how the people of hong kong respond, and frankly, the people the freedom loving people in the mainland as well. They are watching, too. Never forget that while we see a unitary face from the Chinese Communist party, that the 1. 5 billion people also have ideas that are different. They will be watching how this transpires as well. I know the people of taiwan are certainly watching how this transpires. Second, for how the United States i want to leave open the range of possibilities but the president has made clear, to the extent hong kong is treated by the communist party and it is just another piece of mainland china, there is no reason for the United States to treat them any differently as well. We have the law that requires that as well. You alsorasmussen mentioned taiwan. I think we agree that taiwan is a beacon on democracy, a real contrast with mainland communist china. What more do you think we could do to defend the taiwanese democracy, and shouldnt taiwan be allowed, for instance, to join w. H. O. And may other International Organizations . Maybe other International Organizations . Sec. Pompeo its widely known how many countries to allow them the taiwanese government to participate at least as an observer in the assembly. There is another scheduled for november. We think it was appropriate for them to do so and perhaps even more importantly, very useful. They have a great deal of knowledge. They handled this coronavirus very, very well. They have highend technology, pharmaceutical capabilities, and scientists. We think will be useful for them to be in the conversation of how the world will respond to the continuing pandemic. As for how we deal with taiwan, the United States has had a clear set of policies that extend back to depending where you want to start the clock back to the early 1990s as a reasonable place to start. Tosident trump has adhered those commitments and will continue to do so. They are set out very clearly and we will continue to abide by them. Fmr sec. Rasmussen lets turn to europe. The white house has announced an intention to reduce the u. S. Troop presence in germany. May i ask you, will part of a reduction in germany be compensated by an increase in the u. S. Presence in Eastern Europe, for instance, in poland . Sec. Pompeo so as for troop deployments and numbers, i will leave that to my colleague, secretary esper, to talk about. Maintain these boundaries. I can speak to that very clearly. I have been the secretary of state for just over two years. I have been part of the Administration Since the beginning. 2018, out back in early back in early 2017, in the spring of 2017, to evaluate the entire structure about how we engaged in the world. That certainly has a component about troop stationing, where we will put people, how we will deploy them. Mentioned, are we better off in a more modern world to have rotational deployments where we can get the right equipment at the right time . We always think about soldiers on the ground. Much of modern conflict today involves things i was a tanker, army guy i wish the whole world revolved around m1 tanks. That would make me happy. It now revolves around big air forces, big cyber capabilities, big capabilities that are in different pockets. We are trying to make sure we get all of this right. Its no longer reasonable to think about, hey, do we have 5000 soldiers or 10,000 soldiers . What is the threat posed to the United States of america and our friends and allies . How is it that we can best respond . What you saw the president announced the other day was part of that review process. It extends not only to europe but throughout the middle east. It is we can do the right thing to meet the challenges of the day. Lastly, this connects up to the topic i spoke about today. Make no mistake about it. The United States does believe it has a real responsibility to ensure we have the capability and the capacity to challenge any threat that the Chinese Communist party should make militarily to the united rates of america, so we are constantly thinking about how we engage theomatically when president thinks about europe and africa, we are ever mindful that the indo pacific matters to all of us, including to europe. We want to make sure we have allocated resources appropriately to address those concerns. Have got a question from the organs. Understand, if european friends and allies see a threat to democracy generates from the dangerouso a slow and breakdown of state institutions and democratic sec. Pompeo no. Fmr sec. Rasmussen that is a clear answer. [laughter] look, 200 plus years on, we have the most i should be careful because i want to brag about the United States, but this is a democracy that has withstood and normas challenges throughout its history and our institutions have withstood and normas challenges. As the world changes, i am confident we will still have challenges. But i know this. Our founders nailed it. They got it right. The principles. A godgiven right for the american people. The United States government is designed and purposed to preserve those rights. It has provided a textual and structural act in for democracy to survive each and every one of these challenges. Does not mean it happens automatically. I am now a steward for this very set of rights. I have a responsibility and duty to ensure i do everything every to continue to remain strong. Question, can i understand how anyone could think that american democracy is at risk . Its a really simple answer. Very often,mussen we see the Chinese Government tacticside, and rule where they single out individual for punishment if they do not listen to beijing. Follow the instructions from beijing or are going against beijing. Shouldnt the, worlds democracies form a alliance of, an ,emocracies that can stand up protect each other, and promote freedom and prosperity . Sec. Pompeo that is an incredibly important question. I will start with this. You will recall, create a united front. Name. S chinas the united front. So maybe we will choose a slightly different name. Conceptually, you nailed it. You got it exactly right. I think the wonderful news for democracy and freedom loving ioples i can tell you when met with my chinese counterpart, he could see it happen while we were sitting in the room. Wow we were meeting. While we were meeting. A statement about us came out from hong kong. The timing i would like to say is intentional, very well thought out. The truth of the matter is we were doing what freedom loving people do, continuing to demand an ever more extensive conception of freedom and forcing, as best we can, other countries to honor commitments that they have made. To your core point, chinas objective is in fact a single. Indeed, to threaten to single out more directly. Not just European Countries. We have seen him do it in the middle east. We have seen them do it in africa. We have seen them do it in Southeast Asia closer to their nation. When i have begun to see over my 2. 5 years as secretary of state is the world awakening to this threat. Right now, many of these are,rsations, the calls hey, mike, here is what we are observing, how can you help . We do our best to provide them the type of assistance that makes most sense. We need to raise this to another level to which countries are prepared and imposition to respond to these things in a public way. When we do that, the Chinese Communist party will be more isolated. My objective i hope the Chinese Communist party will begin to recognize that if they want to rise, if they want to continue to build to their nation, they need do so on a western rule set, a rule set that honors the rule of law and honors freedom and respect for sovereignty. And they can flip. If they can make that difference, because the rest of the world demands that. Just as we do every other nation with which we interact, it is not unique. It is simply reciprocal. Ask the Chinese Government to do anything we dont ask the belgian government to do. Compete fairly around the World Without subsidization. If they will do those things, and then i think the world will be in a better place so freedom loving nations can be secure in their freedoms. Fmr sec. Rasmussen thank you. Thank you very much, mr. Secretary. Thank you, mike, for taking time to talk to us. Its a very important conclusion of todays markers he summits here in copenhagen. We appreciate very much your support for freedom and democracy and do dedication to american leadership. I feel confident that my three american grandchildren will be raised in a much better world. Thank you very much. Sec. Pompeo thank you very much. Thanks to everyone for giving me the time. So long. Fmr sec. Rasmussen so long. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2020] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] monday night on the communicators, president and ceo michael powell. We should not make the mistake of thinking because something is important, it is a utility. We are a little too fast and assuming those are the same things. I think it is extraordinarily important to die do not think it is a luxury. I think it is an essential service for most americans. Watch the communicators on cspan2