Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is calling on American officials to recognize Taiwan as an independent nation, separate from communist China.
Mr. Pompeo told a Hudson Institute gathering on Tuesday that China banned him from visiting after he spoke in support of Taiwan and he wants other Americans to echo his advocacy.
“I hope more, other senior American officials will join me in this because I think it’ll create noise,” Mr. Pompeo said. “There’ll be angst, the Chinese Communist Party will bluster and threaten, but that clarity will provide the call for the world to accept the fundamental truth, that fundamental reality.”
Mr. Pompeo, who also formerly led the CIA under then-President Donald Trump, said he confirmed Taiwan’s independence in a visit to the island nation after exiting the U.S. government.
“On my first visit to Taiwan after I left government service, I made the simple declaratory statement that Taiwan was, in fact, a sovereign, independent nation, which is simply true, right?” he said. “I’m banned from traveling to mainland China and I landed in Taipei, proving that my passport cleared and that, in fact, this was an independent nation with all the indices, indicia of statehood.”
Michael Tsai, former Taiwanese defense minister, praised Mr. Pompeo and said he hopes the former senior American official would someday become president.
The former Taiwanese official said he hopes Washington would listen to Mr. Tsai’s plea for Taiwan to join the United Nations, which he said is a national goal for the island.
“We’d like to join the U.N. to share the responsibility we can,” Mr. Tsai said. “So for this reason we today here, we humble, stand here to appeal to American friends and government [around] the world: Give us a hand. We’d like share the responsibility to help the world for peace and stability.”
Mr. Tsai said he made plans to advocate elsewhere in Washington for his nation’s inclusion in the U.N.
While Mr. Tsai pressures American policymakers to advance Taiwan’s agenda, Tom McDevitt, board chairman of The Washington Times, told the gathering that he was organizing “a full strategic communications campaign to reach hundreds of thousands of people” in support of the island.
Mr. McDevitt recounted how he shared details of his Taiwan project with White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan at a dinner sponsored by the White House Correspondents’ Association.
“It’s a network, a global effort to mobilize and educate influencers,” Mr. McDevitt said he told Mr. Sullivan. “And he, his eyes got really wide. I said, ‘If we don’t do something like this, it will really make a weakness.’ So we have to do that.”
Mr. Pompeo said the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda machine is real and Americans need to push back against it. He said China is determined to discourage people’s recognition of Taiwanese independence.
While concerns abound about Taiwan’s future amid a threatening China, Mr. Pompeo urged people not to doubt America’s resolve.
He told the gathering at the Hudson Institute, which included supporters of the Taiwan United Nations Alliance, that America’s commitment to the island was “long and deep and strong.”
“No matter how our election goes in November and who is occupying the Oval Office come January of 2025, I’m confident that this commitment will remain and that our friends and allies and partners in the region will join us in this important task,” he said. “And when we do, the Chinese Communist Party will come to see that this folly, this effort that they’re undertaking to undermine the political autonomy of Taiwan is silly, makes no sense, is not true and real and consistent with the will of the people of Taiwan.”