‘Dominant’ Xi can use his power in China to be a force for good in the world, says US spy chief
CIA director says he hopes Chinese president will use his global clout to help curb North Korean nuclear programme
Chinese President Xi Jinping is consolidating his power in the Communist Party congress that is under way in Beijing and could use his commanding position as a positive force globally, according to America’s chief spy.
“We think that President Xi will come out of this in a dominant position with incredible capacity to do good around the world,” Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo said on Thursday.
He said the CIA’s “old-school guys who used to do Kremlin work” in the days of the Soviet Union are now tracking the political machinations surrounding the congress that’s held in China only once every five years.
In a speech of more than three hours on Wednesday, Xi laid out a sweeping vision to transform China into a strong global power while guaranteeing the primacy of Communist Party rule – and his own leadership.
“I hope they’ll take this opportunity to demonstrate that they truly are going to be globally important players in reducing a global threat like Kim Jong-un presents with his nuclear weapons system, and the behaviours we’ve seen have been good,’’ Pompeo told a conference of the Foundation for Defence of Democracies in Washington.
China has made progress in helping curb the nuclear threats from Kim’s regime in North Korea, Pompeo said, but the US is hoping it will do more given the “great relationship” that has developed between Xi and President Donald Trump.