ISIS and SYRIA
In a December 21 interview with NPR Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo said that the United States has made the caliphate in Syria “go away.” The remaining battle, he added, is to eliminate the threat of terrorism by groups such as ISIS, al-Qaida, HTS, and others. The US is supporting the UN peace process which seeks a political outcome. Washington had a very clear set of goals in Syria, which centered on the elimination of the ISIS caliphate in Syria. Pompeo said that the United States has achieved it goals, but that Washington would continue to support or allies in the region. With more than 90% of ISIS’ territory taken back, it no longer makes sense to keep 2,000 American troops in the area, he added.
IMMIGRATION and the SOUTHERN BORDER
The United States announced a fundamental shift in how the government handles immigrants coming to the US from south of the border. Secretary Pompeo said the policy shift is “consistent with U.S. law, and more importantly it is deeply consistent with the protection, the humanitarian protection, of these migrants as they transit their way through Mexico. We will no longer permit those who are seeking asylum to remain inside the United States during the pendency of their immigration process.
They’ll file a claim and then they will be returned to Mexico. This is both deeply lawful and deeply humanitarian.” The State Department believes that this new model will disincentivize immigrants and reduce the migrations flows across the southern US border. Earlier in December Washington had announced it was making a financial commitment in Central America to create good projects that will, hopefully, lead to conditions that will reduce the number of people attempting to illegally enter the United States.
CHINA
The Department of State issued a statement pointing out that since at least 2014, Chinese cyber actors associated with the Chinese Ministry of State Security have “hacked multiple U.S. and global managed service and cloud providers.” They then used this access to compromise the networks of the providers’ clients, including global companies located in at least 12 countries.
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The State Department pointed out that these actions by Chinese actors to target intellectual property and sensitive business information, present a very real threat to the economic competitiveness of companies in the United States and around the globe.
CHINA TRADE
In an interview with KMUW public radio of Wichita, Kansas, Secretary of State Pompeo said the Chinese trade relationship with the US is “fundamentally unfair.” He added that they steal US intellectual property and charge huge tariffs on American made products. The United States wants a fair and reciprocal trade relationship with China.
“It is fundamentally unfair to allow the United States to continue to have the Chinese have forced technology transfer, force American companies who want to operate in China to behave in ways that are inconsistent with their own workers’ best interest. And President Trump is the first president in an awfully long time to take this threat to American workers,” according to Pompeo.
DARIA NOVAK served in the United States State Department during the Reagan Administration, and currently is on the Board of the American Analysis of News and Media Inc., which publishes usagovpolicy.com and the New York Analysis of Policy and Government. Each Saturday, she presents key updates on U.S. foreign policy from the State Department.
Illustration: Pixabay