Does the US need to distrust and verify when it comes to China?

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in his recent speech at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, negated every aspect of China-US relations, maliciously attacked the leadership of the Communist Party of China and China's political system, and attempted to drive a wedge between the CPC and the Chinese people. He also wantonly criticized China's domestic and foreign policies, spread the so-called "China threat", and called for an anti-China alliance to contain China's development.

Pompeo's baseless, fact-distorting speech misrepresents history and the reality. It is full of ideological prejudice and driven by a Cold-War mentality. His remarks have not only been condemned by the Chinese people, but also criticized and opposed by sensible people in the United States as well as the international community.

To debunk the lies fabricated by Pompeo, let the facts speak for themselves.

Rumor:

Mike Pompeo: The United States must distrust and verify when it comes to the CCP.

Fact:

Pompeo's so-called "distrust and verify" approach to China abounds with strong Cold War mentality, ideological bias, condescending and bullying attitudes, as well as ignorance towards China. Indeed, there is a trust deficit between China and the United States. Its root lies in the Cold War mentality, ideological bias, and zero-sum game mindset of certain US politicians, who have misread, misjudged or even deliberately distorted China's strategic intention and its internal and external policies.

-- Engagement between countries should be built on a foundation of integrity, a premise of equal treatment and a goal of peace, development and win-win cooperation. Bilateral relations should work in reciprocal ways: one country cannot have the other be responsible without taking its own responsibility for the other side. Likewise, one country cannot be concerned only with its own benefits and security without considering those of the other. If the United States assumes China to be a "potential enemy", eventually it is bound to "create an enemy". Only by regarding each other as partners can China and the United States avoid confrontation and become friends.

-- China has maintained a highly stable and consistent policy toward the United States, and China stands ready to develop a China-US relationship featuring no conflict and confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation based on coordination, cooperation and stability. This will require the two sides to work in the same direction, respect international law and rules, and engage in equal dialogue and consultation.

-- While the United States unscrupulously contains and smears China around the world, and meddles in China's domestic affairs, it should not demand unrealistically that China show understanding and support to the United States in bilateral and global affairs. As an independent sovereign country, China has every right to uphold its sovereignty, security and development interests, safeguard the achievements that the Chinese people have made through hard work, and reject any bullying and injustice imposed on it.

-- The US government has continuously pulled out of international treaties and organizations. It wields the stick of sanctions wherever it wants and ignores its international obligations and the international norms, making itself the most damaging force of the current international order and the biggest source of global instability. The current US administration has pulled out of more international treaties than any one before it. It is the United States, not others, that deserves the "distrust and verify" approach the most.