Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blasted China over its statements about the U.S. response to George Floyd’s death and accused the country of exploiting the tragedy.
“The Chinese Communist Party’s callous attempts to exploit George Floyd’s tragic death for its own political gain will fail. During the best of times, Beijing ruthlessly imposes communism. Amid the most difficult challenges, the United States secures freedom,” Pompeo said in a Saturday morning tweet.
The Chinese Communist Party’s callous attempts to exploit George Floyd’s tragic death for its own political gain will fail. During the best of times, Beijing ruthlessly imposes communism. Amid the most difficult challenges, the United States secures freedom.
— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) June 6, 2020
Chinese media has extensively covered the protests, which began after Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was seen in a video being pinned to the ground by a Minneapolis police officer while he begged for his life. Floyd later died in police custody after being held to the ground for nearly nine minutes.
China has hit back at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for saying the Hong Kong protests were “a beautiful sight to behold.” Xinhua, a state-run news outlet, characterized the protests as “Pelosi’s beautiful landscape.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hua Chunying has used her platform on Twitter, which has more than a half-million followers, to blast out messages about the demonstrations.
“All lives matter. We stand firmly with our African friends. We strongly oppose all forms of racial discrimination and inflammatory expressions of racism and hatred,” she said in one tweet that came the same week as the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in which Chinese forces violently suppressed student-led protests, killing hundreds.
All lives matter. We stand firmly with our African friends. We strongly oppose all forms of racial discrimination and inflammatory expressions of racism and hatred. https://t.co/bRXvafrKZH
— Hua Chunying 华春莹 (@SpokespersonCHN) June 1, 2020
National security adviser Robert O’Brien listed Iran, China, Russia, and Zimbabwe as “foreign adversaries” looking to capitalize on the unrest from Floyd’s death during a recent interview. O’Brien said the countries were “going to take advantage of this crisis to sow discord and to try and damage our democracy” and could face retaliation.
Zimbabwe expressed anger over the characterization, and Foreign Minister Sibusiso Moyo summoned U.S. Ambassador Brian Nichols over the comments.
Iran has also used the moment to attack the U.S. Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Floyd’s death “the nature of the U.S. system” in a Thursday tweet.
“A police officer coldly kneeling on a black man’s neck & pushing until he dies, while the other officers do nothing to stop this no matter how much he pleads, is nothing new. It is the nature of the US system,” Khamenei said.
“The people’s slogan of #ICantBreathe, which can be heard in the massive protests throughout the US, is the heartfelt words of all nations against which the US has committed many atrocities,” he said in another tweet.
The people’s slogan of #ICantBreathe, which can be heard in the massive protests throughout the US, is the heartfelt words of all nations against which the US has committed many atrocities.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) June 3, 2020
