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Pompeo pledges Slovakia support on latest stop to curb Russia, China
BRATISLAVA, Feb 12, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
promised Tuesday that the United States would support Slovakia’s security and
economy on his latest stop on a Central European tour aimed at curbing the
growing influence of Russia and China.
Pompeo, the first US secretary of state to visit Slovakia in 14 years,
told President Andrej Kiska as they met: “It’s been too long since America
has been deeply engaged here.”
A day after talks in Hungary, Pompeo is seeking to highlight the US role
in the fall of communism three decades ago as Russian President Vladimir
Putin finds a widening audience in the former Eastern Bloc.
Pompeo greeted five former political prisoners at a memorial to the so-
called Gate of Freedom on the border with Austria, where 400 people were
killed from 1945 to 1989 as they tried to escape the Iron Curtain of then
Czechoslovakia.
“Where barbed wire and armed guards stood, today people, goods and
information cross freely,” Pompeo said.
“The United States has stood with the people of Slovakia as a friend, as a
partner… for the past 30 years, and we will continue to stand with you in
the decades to come,” he said.
“On behalf of the United States I’m proud to stand in union with the
people of Slovakia and Europe in recommitting to a future that is more
prosperous, more secure and, most of all, great,” he said.
– Alternative to Russia –
President Donald Trump has voiced admiration for Putin but the wider US
government finds the Russian leader to be a nemesis and is seeking to find
alternatives for European nations to Russia’s energy exports.
A senior US official travelling with Pompeo said that the Trump
administration was pursuing a strategy similar to that in Asia, where for
years the United States has been seeking to curb China’s power.
“It emphasises in vulnerable regions where our rivals, the Chinese and the
Russians, are gaining ground that we want to increase our diplomatic,
military and cultural engagement,” the official told reporters.
He said that the United States was also looking across Central Europe to
provide more support to boost an independent media, amid concerns about an
erosion of press freedom.
In Hungary, the most pro-Russia member of the European Union, Pompeo raised
concerns to Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government both over ties with
Moscow and Budapest’s contract with Chinese telecom giant Huawei to develop
the country’s fifth-generation mobile network.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto welcomed Pompeo’s calls for
closer ties and promised more defence cooperation but also brushed off the
criticism on relations with Russia and China.
He said that Western concerns on Hungary’s ties with Moscow amounted to
“enormous hypocrisy” as Western European nations were doing the energy deals
with Russia.
Pompeo heads later Tuesday to Poland, where he is co-hosting a conference
on the Middle East that will promote President Donald Trump’s hard line on
Iran and strong support for Israel.
BSS/AFP/RY/1710 hrs