Pompeo says 60,000 PLA soldiers at LAC, urges QUAD countries to hit back at China's threat

After the Quad countries met for the second edition of the Ministerial meeting in Tokyo, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo hit out at China over its "bad behaviour," claiming that the Communist nation had aligned 60,000 soldiers along the LAC border. "The Indians are seeing 60,000 Chinese soldiers on their northern border," Mike Pompeo told Fox News adding that all four countries were witnessing China-associated risks and threats in different ways. 

Urging cooperation between the Quad members, Pompeo said that the countries had 'seen it all' and had 'slept' on the threats for way too long, allowing the CCP walked all over them. "I was with my Foreign Minister counterparts from India, Australia, and Japan - a format that we call the Quad, four big democracies, four powerful economies, four nations, each of whom has real risk associated with the threats imposed attempting to be imposed by the Chinese Communist Party. And they see it in their home countries too," he said.

"They see, the people of their (Quad) nations understanding that we all slept on this for too long. For decades, the West allowed the Chinese Communist Party to walk all over us. The previous administration bent a knee, too often allowed China to steal our intellectual properties and the millions of jobs that came along with it. They see that in their country too," he said in the interview.

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'We are going to confront them'

spoke about how India was actually witnessing physical confrontation while Australians were being bullied by China after it unleashed the virus. "Look, they've stacked 60,000 soldiers against the Indians in the north. When the Australians had the temerity to ask for an investigation of the Wuhan virus and where it began, something that we know a lot about, the Chinese Communist Party threatened them. They bullied them," Mike Pompeo said. 

"We need partners and friends. They'll certainly try to react. But what the Chinese Communist Party had become accustomed to, frankly, for an awfully long time was watching America bend a knee, watching us turn the other cheek and appease them," he said.

Urging the Quad members to "push back", Mike Pompeo said, "They've (China) watched that we're going to confront them and impose costs upon them. I am confident that this activity, over time, will change the nature of what the Chinese Communist Party tries to do to harm America."

The US has been urging India to take a stronger role in the defence of the Indo-Pacific region. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, also known as Quad, is an informal strategic forum between India, US, Japan, and Australia. The strategic alliance was formed to ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific and check China’s expansionist efforts in the region, which has become a major cause of concern for a rules-based order. 

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(With PTI Inputs)