Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described Chinese President Xi Jinping as the “most unpleasant” of the international leaders he had met in his career. Pompeo made these revelations in his book, ‘Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love.’ In his book, Pompeo who was the State Secretary during Donald Trump’s regime stated that he exchanged many conversations with the Chinese leader and found him “dour” and a “quintessential Communist apparatchik”.
Pompeo also recalled how Xi Jinping threatened to stop delivering PPF kits to America if it continued to demand accountability from Beijing on Covid-19.
During the meetings, Xi Jinping told stories of Chinese victims and discussed his “demands to avenge grievances from long before any of us were born,” Mike Pompeo noted.
“Personally, I thought Xi was dour. While Putin can be funny and mirthful, even while being evil, Xi was not so serious as dead-eyed. I never once saw an unforced smile,” Pompeo writes in the book that’s slated to hit bookstores on Tuesday.
“I also found Xi a quintessential Communist apparatchik: heavy in the abstract, light on the issues under discussion, and always eager to impose his views, even while he pretends to be listening to you. He fit the psychological profile of an East German or Soviet Communist I came to study during my Army days,” Pompeo stated.
The former US Secretary of State further wrote about his several interactions with the Chinese leader adding, “Xi talked in “hollow tones” and was always in search of words, phrases, and archaic Chinese proverbs of questionable clarity.”
Pompeo added, “Of the dozens of world leaders I met, he was among the most unpleasant. How’s that for telling the hard truth? Having now seen the regime personified at the highest level, I was gripped by just how different its leaders were from the Chinese people.”
In his memoir, the former US Secretary of State recounted how he nearly was fired following making critical remarks about the CCP administration. He wrote that when the first wave of Covid-19 was at its peak, Xi warned then-President Donald Trump that continued demands for accountability would jeopardise America’s ability to receive Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) supplies from China.
“The United States was still in the early stages of understanding what we were up against, and the president made the tough call that putting America first meant not jeopardising our ability to procure potentially life-saving equipment from China,’ Pompeo wrote.
‘At the same time, however, I was determined to impose accountability by telling the truth. I knew that the CCP already was not happy with me,’ he added.
Pompeo described how, on March 25, he conducted a news conference at the State Department and slammed Xi Jinping’s party for hiding an approaching global catastrophe.
He added that he believes his harsh statements influenced Trump’s previously scheduled call with Xi Jinping the next evening on March 26.
“I joined the call from a secure location, while the President was at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. It started off cordially, as Xi offered Eastern medicines that he assured us would stem the symptoms of COVID-19 if Trump needed them. Yet Xi’s real mission was to get me fired,” wrote Pompeo.
“He railed against me: Pompeo has defamed the Chinese people. Pompeo is antagonistic and a pugilist without reason. Pompeo is risking the trade deal we signed two months ago. Pompeo is immature and jeopardises all we’ve built together. I’m sure that he knew I was on the call, so I admired his directness, if not his objective,” the former US Secretary recalled.
Pompeo further wrote how soon after the call, then American President Donald Trump called him and said, “My Mike, that f–ing guy hates you!”
“We should chat in the morning, as the hour was late in DC, but that I needed to ‘shut the hell up for a while.’ We needed that health equipment from China, he said,” Pompeo added.
“At his direction, I committed to a temporary rhetorical ceasefire. There was only one moment when I thought my job might be at risk. I’d watched President Trump aim his ire at many cabinet officials over the previous three years, but had never really worried that I could be on the way out. Now it was my turn,” he said.
According to the book, Trump walked into the Oval Office a few days later and saw Pompeo in person for the first time since the Xi call and said, “you guys need to know Xi hates that guy. Mike, you’re putting us all at risk – the PPE, our trade deal. Stop, for God’s sake!”
“When I went home that night, I told Susan that my good run might be near its end. I would not praise Xi or the CCP for their death-dealing lies. Quiet for a time? Fine,” Pompeo wrote.
Mike Pompeo accuses China of destroying coronavirus samples as part of a cover-up
It may be recalled that in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak, Mike Pompeo had accused China of destroying coronavirus samples as part of a cover-up during the early days of the outbreak, thereby “making it impossible to track the disease’s evolution”.
Pompeo said he “strongly believed” that Beijing had failed to report the outbreak in a timely manner, which was a breach of World Health Organization rules, and had failed to report human-to-human transmission of the virus “for a month until it was in every province inside of China.”
China slaps sanctions on several officials of the Trump administration
In 2021, soon after Joe Biden took oath as the 46th President of the United States, China released a statement imposing sanctions on several former officials of the Trump administration. Over 28 former Trump administration officials, including former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, had been subjected to sanctions.
The sanctions were imposed after the outgoing Trump administration had reportedly said that China was committing genocide against Uyghur Muslims and other Muslims in Xinjiang. Former secretary of state Pompeo had directed the Department of State to continue to investigate and collect information regarding the Chinese atrocities against Muslims in Xinjiang.
