Foreign Policy Update – USA Gov Policy

CHINA

“The United States is not forcing Europe to choose between the free world or China’s authoritarian vision. China is making that choice between freedom and democracy,” accord to Secretary of State Pompeo. While speaking at a German Marhsall Fund’s Brussels Forum 2020 meeting, he said that the United States has accepted High Representative Borrell’s proposal to create a U.S.-EU Dialogue on China. This is a new mechanism for discussing the concerns the US has about the threat China poses to the West and its shared democratic ideals with Europe.

Data on China is what is important, according to Pompeo. He said there needs to be realism in Europe about the threat posed by the Communist Party in China.

“First, data. The truth. We need to acknowledge what’s happening,” he added. “I talked about the People’s Liberation Army’s provocative military actions. They include its continued aggression in the South China Sea, deadly border confrontations in India, an opaque nuclear program, and threats against peaceful neighbors. I talked about how the CCP has broken multiple international commitments, including those to the WHO, the WTO, the United Nations, and the people of Hong Kong. I talked too about the CCP’s predatory economic practices, such as trying to force nations to do business with Huawei, an arm of the Chinese Communist Party’s surveillance state. And I talked about many of its violations of European sovereignty, including its browbeating of companies like HSBC. I talked about Beijing’s legion human rights abuses, which continue to shock us all. That’s it; just the facts.

Pompeo admitted the United States was slow to recognize the China threat and the reality of the rising authoritarian regime and the implications it has for free societies. He pointed out that Europe was slow, too, but the CCP’s coverup of the coronavirus, an outbreak that began in Wuhan, China has accelerated the west’s awakening.

VENEZUELA

Over the last two weeks, Secretary Pompeo said, the illegitimate Venezuelan supreme court has decreed a new, regime-aligned electoral commission and stolen the name and branding of two major political parties, replacing their leadership with Maduro’s lackeys.

“These are unconstitutional actions. They make a mockery of democratic processes, and the Venezuelan people are fighting to protect those very freedoms that they so richly deserve.”

The best pathway out of the Venezuelan crisis, according to Pompeo, is through a broadly acceptable transitional government to administer a free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections.

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He announced the United States is “sanctioning five Iranian ship captains who delivered around a million and a half barrels of Iranian gasoline to Venezuela in support of the illegitimate Maduro regime.” These captains’ assets will be blocked, and they won’t be able to operate in US waters. Pompeo also reiterated US support for the National Assembly, Interim President Guaido, and the Venezuelan people in their quest to restore democracy.

5G Issues

“The tide is turning against Huawei as citizens around the world are waking up to the danger of the Chinese Communist Party’s surveillance state,” according to Secretary Pompeo. Huawei’s deals with telecommunications operators around the world are evaporating because countries are only allowing trusted vendors in their 5G networks. He provided examples including the Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, Estonia, Romania, Denmark, and Latvia.

According to Pompeo, some of the largest telecom companies around the globe are also becoming “Clean Telcos.” The momentum in favor of secure 5G is building with more countries, companies, and citizens asking whom they should trust with their most sensitive data. It appears the answer is not the Chinese Communist Party’s surveillance state.

UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

Venezuela, and now Cuba and China sit on the United Nations Human Rights Council. “It is a grave disappointment to those genuinely seeking to advance human dignity” according to Secretary Pompeo. The United States, which is following rule of law in the case of George Floyd, has been subject to a unfair resolution by the Council, he pointed out.

“Unfortunately, the Council has once again reaffirmed the wisdom of our decision to withdraw in 2018. If the Council were serious about protecting human rights, there are plenty of legitimate needs for its attention, such as the systemic racial disparities in places like Cuba, China, and Iran. If the Council were honest, it would recognize the strengths of American democracy and urge authoritarian regimes around the world to model American democracy and to hold their nations to the same high standards of accountability and transparency that we Americans apply to ourselves,” Pompeo said.

DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government. Each Saturday, she presents key updates on U.S. foreign policy from the State Department.

Illustration: Pixabay

Quick Analysis

Russia Expanding Aggression

President Putin is using more than one pathway to enter Europe and undermine the West. While most of the world watches the conflict he initiated in Ukraine, the Russian government is actively pursuing a second front in a little noticed campaign in Cyprus. Although the corrupt Cypriot government ended its issuance of “golden passports” in 2020, Russian intelligence is functioning quietly there to transform this EU country into a Russian beachhead of illicit economic activity aimed at penetrating the capitalist West, according to Paul Goble of the Jamestown Foundation. Cyprus is not a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) nor does it receive as much attention as those countries who are member states. That adds to its allure as a prime location for Russia to attempt to gain a European foothold. Last week a NATO report, cited in the European Daily Monitor, noted that Russian intelligence agents have been plotting to destroy European infrastructure across the continent to disrupt states supporting Ukraine. It further suggests that Putin’s immediate goal is to lay the framework for a future move against the security organization’s members. Hungary, in particular, is another country garnering Moscow’s attention as it opposes the Western response to Russian aggression. Russia is focusing its intelligence efforts on other European, non-NATO member countries in addition to Cyprus, including Austria, Malta, and Ireland. The NATO report suggests that Moscow has had success in disseminating the Russian political narrative in these states to advance its campaign against the West. The island of Cyprus is proving to be a good target for Moscow as it is an ethnically divided island that is part of the EU since 2004. Northern Cyprus, officially called the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), is a de facto state that is only recognized by Turkey. The division precludes it from joining NATO. As Goble suggests, “it offers Russia troubled waters in which to fish.” Over the last 20 years, he points out, Cyprus’ challenges have opened it to a massive influx of Russian citizens, who now comprise approximately 10 percent of the island state’s population. Over 2,900 residents are Russians who entered until the “golden passport” program that allowed wealthy or well-connected Russians to move to Cyprus. It also provided them with documentation to travel freely throughout Europe! Although less visible on the world’s radar than the war in Ukraine, Moscow is also being helped by Cyprus’ banks opposition to seizing Russian assets and its support in evading Western sanctions. Russia has placed tens of billions of US Dollars there for money laundering. It has been more than two years since a single Russian “diplomat” has been deported and, in fact, the Embassy has grown to over 300 staffers on this tiny island state of only 1.2 million people. The Russian embassy in Nicosia has advanced communications antennae on its roof and opened a consulate on the northern end of the island. Moscow’s Ambassador, Mura Zyazikov, is a lieutenant general in the FSB with no diplomatic experience. The FSB, SVR (Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service), and GRU are actively using the island as a base of operations against NATO Member states, Israel, and other Western allies. Moscow backs pro-Russian political parties who in turn influence Cypriot decisions on education, language, and other issues. “Dmitry Khmelnitsky of the Dossier Center says that its findings should be of concern not only to Cyprus but to the West as a whole. Those who ignore what Moscow is doing because Cyprus does not follow the EU sanctions regime are missing something critical,” says Goble. “Cyprus does not seek to get rid of Russian agents and does not interfere with their work,” Khmelnitsky concludes, “despite the fact that what the Kremlin is doing is so clearly visible.” This has an impact not only on the small island but on the EU, NATO, and the West in general. Earlier this year the Moscow Times reported that when the FBI became more interested in Russian business and oligarchs in Cyprus, at least 10 of the major Russian businesses operating there left. Despite the government of Cyprus’ vow to implement plans for new sanctions against Russia, it continues to ignore Putin’s atrocities in Ukraine and to shield the wealth of the 50,000 wealthy Russian citizens and oligarchs residing there. Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept. Illustration: Pixabay