The West lives: Pompeo and Esper in Munich

Whoever claims that America is about to abdicate as a global leader is wrong, says US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. His cabinet colleague, Defense Minister Mark Esper, urges Europeans to be more vigilant about China.

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Saturday was the day of the Americans at the Munich Security Conference: Foreign Minister Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper were the two most prominent visitors who came from Washington this year.

In his speech, Pompeo in particular set a real counterpoint to the pessimistic theme of the conference. “Westlessness?” He did not know at all what that was supposed to be, he mocked himself about a concept of art introduced by the organizers, with which they denote the dwindling influence and lack of inner cohesion of the western world. The West is about to win, said Pompeo; Western recipes for success would be copied worldwide.

There is zest for action and optimism, there is concern

Anyone who compared Pompeo’s speech to the one given by the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier the day before could best feel confirmed in national stereotypes: on the one hand American optimism and zest for action, on the other hand German hesitancy. “Just yesterday someone said the United States rejected the international community,” Pompeo scoffed. He may have meant Steinmeier.

In fact, according to the Secretary of State, the United States is now more involved internationally than ever before. The list of American activities that he followed did not want to end. The actual news was his announcement that he would like to support the “Three Seas Initiative”, which provides for closer cooperation between Central and Eastern European countries bordering the Mediterranean, the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, with a billion dollars. “Does that fit in with the claim that America wants to abdicate as a global leader?” Pompeo asked rhetorically at the end of his list.

There are still countries that threaten the West, said the Foreign Minister, calling Russia, Iran and China. But there is also good news: “The United States faces the threat.” Here was the unspoken accusation that the Europeans would not do this, or at least not with due seriousness.

China, China, China

Two areas of conflict between the United States and its European allies were raised in the discussion that followed Pompeo’s speech: Iran and China. As far as Iran is concerned, there is agreement on the objective of thwarting the country’s nuclear armament. Only in terms of tactics are there different ideas, the minister replied a little evasively. He described the Chinese technology group Huawei, which would like to participate in the development of 5G mobile radio networks in Europe, as the Trojan horse of the Chinese regime.

Defense Minister Mark Esper spoke almost exclusively about China. His speech was like a wake-up call to America’s allies. It will be twenty years since the People’s Republic was admitted to the World Trade Organization next year, he said. While the supporters of an admission argued that China would also change politically through greater integration into the global economy, the skeptics believed that Beijing would be even more aggressive in the future.

“You know which argument was correct and it wasn’t the first,” said Esper. Under head of state Xi Jinping, Beijing’s internal repression and its expansion course towards the outside had intensified. In the Asia-Pacific region and in Europe, China is in the process of making countries economically dependent.

Even Britain tends to Huawei

Esper was also concerned about Huawei. In fact, America can be anything but certain of its allies on this issue: Even Great Britain, with which the USA traditionally feels close ties and with which it cooperates particularly closely in intelligence matters, apparently wants the Chinese company to participate in the 5G build-up. Esper’s answer to the question of whether this could jeopardize cooperation between intelligence services left everything open: “We have to look at this first,” he said.

Esper warned Europeans not to subordinate security considerations to short-term economic benefits. As for Huawei, some in Europe would have understood what it was about, while others did not yet see the risks. There are different views of Huawei within some European governments. Esper does not appear to be in a lost position on the question yet.

You can Germany correspondent Hansjörg Müller follow on twitter,