Former secretaries unite in warning about China threat to America

As President Donald Trump directs US resources to operations closer to home, former Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and Mike Pompeo warned that America’s enemies could benefit from a reduced global footprint.

Clinton told audiences on Wednesday that she had heard internal discussions at the Pentagon advocating a “spheres of influence” model that would focus U.S. power on the Western Hemisphere while allowing Russia to dominate Eastern Europe and China to control much of East Asia.

“There seems to be a group within the Pentagon that defends these spheres of influence… I think it’s a disaster. And I think it weakens us against our real problem, which is the Chinese Communist Party,” he said during a debate at Columbia University.

The remarks come as the Pentagon ramps up counternarcotics and maritime security missions in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, increasing the U.S. military presence in the Southern Command region to its largest level in decades; It’s a shift that reflects Trump’s renewed emphasis on prioritizing the Western Hemisphere.

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The United States announced last week that it would withdraw its rotating infantry brigade, which is mostly based in Romania and has some forces in Slovakia, Hungary and Bulgaria.

Clinton, who was one of the early architects of the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia” strategy during her tenure at the State Department from 2009 to 2013, said any withdrawal from the Indo-Pacific would invite instability and signal weakness to U.S. adversaries.

Pompeo largely agreed with this view, saying that the United States should strive for global “American hegemony” based on Western values ​​and should never cede leadership to its rivals.

“I agree with almost everything Secretary Clinton said there,” Pompeo said. “I want American values ​​to dominate the world for the next 250 years… I want to influence every sphere of influence.”

“I agree with almost everything Secretary Clinton said there,” Pompeo said. “I want American values ​​to dominate the world for the next 250 years… I want to influence every sphere of influence.” (Photo: Amir Levy/Getty Images)

Although the War Department had prioritized focusing on the western hemisphere, Sec. Pete Hegseth vowed to “boldly defend” US interests in the Indo-Pacific.

Although US-China relations showed signs of temporary easing following Trump’s latest meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pompeo used particularly harsh words against China.

“We shouldn’t use the word competition and the Chinese Communist Party in the same sentence… The Chinese Communist Party wants to cut our heads off,” he said, adding, “They killed 10 million people and didn’t lose a moment’s sleep when a virus was foisted around the world.”

Pompeo, who served as secretary of state and CIA director in the first Trump administration, also claimed that China approved North Korea to send troops to help Russia in its war against Ukraine.

“There are 13,000 North Koreans on the ground in this conflict today,” he said. “They didn’t go there until Xi Jinping asked Chairman Kim to leave.”

Clinton, meanwhile, accused congressional Republicans of remaining silent if the White House oversteps its authority, citing Trump’s repeated extension of the deadline to divest TikTok or face a US ban.

“Their tongues should be bitten off completely because they don’t speak,” Clinton said.

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“We should not use the words competition and the Chinese Communist Party in the same sentence… The Chinese Communist Party wants to cut off our heads,” said Pompeo, adding, “They killed 10 million people and did not lose a moment’s sleep while the virus was spreading around the world.” (Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)

He said social media now shapes and in some cases distorts public opinion, posing a “major danger to democracy”. Clinton also said TikTok is “controlled by the Chinese Communist Party by bipartisan action of Congress.”

Pompeo echoed this concern. “I worry that there are social influencers on TikTok who shape your mind, and that they are significantly controlled by the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.

The pair of former officials found common ground years after Pompeo promised to release more of his emails ahead of the 2020 election. Trump had expressed disappointment that Pompeo had not released more of the State Department’s famous emails that Clinton sent from a private server during her time running the department.

“We’re doing this as fast as we can,” Pompeo told Fox News at the time, predicting that “there will be a lot more to see before the election.”

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Clinton told the New York Times that Pompeo’s remark was “deplorable.”

Pompeo also criticized Clinton’s “failures” and “rampant corruption” regarding Benghazi.