Former US vice president Mike Pence warned Wednesday that China was on its way to becoming an "evil empire" posing a greater threat to America than the Cold War-era Soviet Union.

Former president Donald Trump's deputy, believed to be mulling his own 2024 White House bid, also urged current occupant Joe Biden to confront China more forcefully on multiple fronts including the origin of the coronavirus and the Asian giant's "neocolonialism."

"The Chinese Communist Party is the greatest threat to our prosperity, security and values on the face of the Earth," Pence said during a speech at the Heritage Foundation think tank.

"China may not yet be an evil empire, but it's working hard every day to become one," he added.

"In many respects, communist China poses a greater challenge to the United States than the Soviet Union ever did throughout the Cold War."

The comments highlighted the anti-China stance adopted by Pence, who amplified his and Trump's policies toward its economic rival, including imposing trade tariffs and blaming Beijing for Covid.

Trump repeatedly lavished praise on President Xi Jinping in the early days of the pandemic for China's "transparency" and professionalism in its public health response, before pivoting to criticizing Beijing and calling Covid-19 the "China Virus."

Instead of "rolling over" to China, the Biden administration ought to demand that Beijing "come clean about the origins of the coronavirus," Pence said, repeating Trump's line that evidence suggests the coronavirus leaked from a Wuhan lab.

Biden in May ordered an investigation of Covid's origins.

Pence, stressing he believes China "senses weakness in this new administration," demanded Biden take other steps against Beijing.

He urged the president to "decouple" the US economy from China's regarding industries considered essential to national security; strengthen economic ties with Taiwan; reduce Chinese imports; and demand the 2022 Winter Olympics be moved from Beijing unless it provides truthful Covid origin data and ends persecution of Muslim minority Uyghurs.

He also called for an aggressive US posture to prevent China from building a military base in the Western hemisphere.

"The president must make it clear that the Western hemisphere is off limits to China's neocolonialism," Pence said.

Related Links
China News from SinoDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

EU parliament urges officials to skip Beijing Olympics
Strasbourg, France (AFP) July 9, 2021
EU lawmakers on Thursday called for officials from the bloc to skip the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics unless China improves on human rights in Hong Kong and for the Uyghur Muslim minority. The European Parliament vote was another sign of souring ties between the EU and China, already hit by a round of tit-for-tat sanctions over the rights issue that effectively blocked the ratification of a long-negotiated investment deal. China's Commissioner's Office in Hong Kong slammed the vote as "political ... read more