US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warns Silicon Valley on supporting China’s ‘Orwellian’ state ahead of trade deal
- Pompeo said the US needs to make sure its companies do not help strengthen China’s military or tighten its “grip of repression” in parts of the country
- The world’s two largest economies are due to sign a partial deal this week to tame a two-year trade war
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday warned Silicon Valley not to bolster China’s “Orwellian” state, two days before the world’s two largest economies sign a partial trade deal.
“We need to make sure American technology doesn’t power a truly Orwellian surveillance state. We need to make sure American principles aren’t sacrificed for prosperity,” Pompeo said at the Commonwealth Club.
He said he was not discouraging firms from heading to China, insisting that the Trump administration wants “American companies to get rich doing business there”.
“At the same time, we need to make sure that our companies don’t do deals that strengthen our competitor’s military or tighten their regime’s grip of repression in parts of that country,” he said.
Rights advocates have voiced growing concern about China’s use of technology to develop intrusive electronic surveillance.