Pompeo declares China to be greatest foreign power threat to US: 'It's not, frankly, a close call'
Beijing 'has infiltrated the United States in ways that Russia has not,' Pompeo tells 'Hannity'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}China, not Russia, is the foreign power that represents the greatest threat to the United States, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told "Hannity" on Wednesday.
"It's not, frankly, a close call ... " Pompeo told host Trey Gowdy. "The Chinese Communist Party is building out its military, it has infiltrated the United States in ways that Russia has not, and its economic might has been used through state-owned enterprises and subsidizing companies to destroy tens of thousands of jobs all across the heartland of America, and it's unacceptable behavior.
STATE DEPARTMENT ANNOUNCES RESTRICTIONS ON CHINESE DIPLOMATS IN US
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"President Trump's not going to permit it to continue," Pompeo added. "And then, of course, we're all suffering even today from the Wuhan virus -- the Chinese Communist Party had a chance to slow it down, to stop it, to let the world know what was taking place.
"And instead of giving us full disclosure, they covered up. This is thousands of lives and billions of dollars in wealth destroyed in the United States and all across the world. This is what authoritarian regimes do. It's what President Trump is working to make sure they can never do again to America."
Earlier Wednesday, the State Department announced that it would require Chinese diplomats to receive approval before visiting U.S. university campuses and meet with local government officials.
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"Today, we took the simple action of telling Chinese diplomats working here in the United States that the free ride is over," Pompeo said. "Their ability to conduct espionage here in the United States has ... that time has passed. And so, we have put restrictions on them. They need to ask permission now to conduct meetings with local officials and to gather at certain levels.
"These are the kinds of restrictions we have had on us, our diplomats in China, and now we have got a reciprocal arrangement, the same thing President Trump has done, in every dimension," he added. "For 40 years ... the United States took a knee and a bent a knee to the Chinese Communist Party and President Trump has said 'enough.'"