Allowing China to host the 2022 Winter Olympics would give the communist nation a boost in credibility similar to the 1936 Summer Games in Nazi Germany, according to former Secretary of States Mike Pompeo this week.
“We know the history and those of us who have worked with our friends in Israel and have worked on anti-Semitism have talked about never allowing what happened in the 1930s to happen again …” Pompeo told Fox News’ “America Reports” on Thursday.
“Well, what’s happening in the 1930s is happening in western China today. There are eerie, eerie similarities between the two, and hosting the Olympic Games — as the Germans were able to do in 1936 — gave great credibility to that regime,” Pompeo continued. “We ought not to permit that to happen. The International Olympic Committee has a responsibility to make sure that host for these games deserve it. This regime certainly does not.”
Pompeo said President Joe Biden’s administration gave him “hope for optimism” with respect to their actions toward China, but said that the new leadership should also do what former President Donald Trump’s administration did to maintain a position of strength.
“When they’re violating basic norms for trade, we need to impose costs on them. President Trump placed tariffs on Chinese products. When they’re stealing our secrets, we kick them out of the consulate in Houston when they were conducting espionage there,” Pompeo said. “You need real deeds, real action. So that’s the only thing that Xi Jinping can possibly understand.”
Pompeo said China presents “the greatest existential threat” to the United States, adding that the Biden administration needs to push back against Chinese power plays in order to “secure American freedom and protect hard-working people all across our country.”
Turning to recent verbal displays of aggression between President Biden and Russian president Vladimir Putin, Pompeo said the altercation was “childish.”
“What matters for the United States of America is preserving our freedom and security. They should put America first, and we did that with respect to Russia. We tried to stop them from building a pipeline that was going to put Europe beholden to Russian energy,” Pompeo said.
He continued, “We provided assistance to the Ukrainians, defensive weapons systems, so they can protect themselves from Russia … I want to come back to this central notion. If you put America first and back up your language with real deeds and not just rhetoric and name-calling, you’re exceedingly far more likely to be successful.”
