On Friday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made one of his toughest speeches against China, urging Europe to choose "freedom" rather than "tyranny" that the country he described as "rogue" wanted to impose.
Pompeo addressed the Europeans at the Copenhagen Summit of Democracy on the Internet, saying that "the Chinese Communist Party wants to force you to choose" between the United States and China.
"We cannot balance the two options without giving up our identity. Democracies that depend on authoritarian regimes do not deserve to bear that name," he added. This comes ahead of Monday's summit between heads of European institutions and Chinese Prime Minister Li Kiqiang.
"I hope to hear more public statements from Europe on the subject of the Chinese challenge," he said, adding that "we must speak clearly so that there is no room for ambiguity in choosing between tyranny and freedom."
For several months now, the United States has criticized Europe for showing what Washington regards as weak against China, for fear of losing access to its big market.
The row held a prominent place in the discussions that brought Pompeo with his European counterparts last Monday.
For his part, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said before that meeting that "the European Union must define its position at a time when escalating tension between the United States and China represents the main axis of international politics, and with the increasing pressure to choose one of the axes". At the same time, he refused to "engage in any cold war" against the Chinese giant.
After the meeting, Borrell said he suggested "continuing the bilateral dialogue with China", without obtaining a direct answer from the American side.
A rogue actor
On Friday, the US Secretary of State enumerated all the issues that his country blames on China, and they are many.
Pompeo considered the Chinese Communist Party a "rogue actor" because it "declared the end of freedom in Hong Kong" in "violation" of its international obligations.
As for Chinese President Xi Jinping - who preferred to be called "Secretary-General" to emphasize his role as leader of the ruling party - Pompeo considered that he "gave the green light to carry out human rights violations on an unprecedented scale since the World War" against Uighur Muslims.
Pompeo also accused the Chinese army of causing "escalating border tension with India" and "militarizing the South China Sea."
Pompeo, who is one of the biggest anti-China opponents of the Trump administration and long considered Beijing the first strategic rival to Washington, said that the United States holds China responsible for "lying about the emerging Corona virus and causing it to spread around the world."
Pompeo condemned the "pressure" on countries to allow the activity of the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, saying that the company represented a "spy tool for the state" founded by the Communist regime.
The US minister said to the Europeans that the Chinese authorities are "blatantly" attacking their economic sovereignty by "buying vital infrastructure" similar to the Greek port of Piraeus.
In this context, he considered that "any investment of a Chinese public company should be viewed with suspicion."
Pompeo confirmed that he had conveyed this "very frank" message to the Chinese Foreign Ministry senior official Yang Jiechi during a crisis meeting that lasted for more than six hours on Wednesday in Hawaii, and he informed his government of the need to monitor the upcoming moves of Beijing closely, from the spread of Covid-19 in Hong Kun Up to the tension with India.
It is clear that this meeting did not reduce the severe tension between Washington and Beijing.