As American healthcare officials work to prevent the spread of the coronavirus to China’s neighbors, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo cultivated diplomatic ties in a region overshadowed by Russia and China.
“We know that there are security issues here,” Pompeo told local media in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. “A good example is what’s going on with the coronavirus. … You’ve got a long border with China, which is where this disease has emanated from.”
His comments came at a time when a senior Chinese diplomat accused the United States of stoking “panic” about the outbreak that has spread to roughly 17,000 people around the world and left more than 360 people dead. Pompeo’s remarks, delivered amid a two-stop trip to Central Asia that included a meeting with senior diplomats from five countries, raised the curtain on Pompeo’s effort to maintain U.S. influence in Beijing’s backyard.
“And we’ve got our people from the Center for Disease Control right here on the ground, helping Kazakhstan deal with this so that you don’t have an enormous outbreak,” Pompeo said.
Pompeo visited Kazakhstan on Sunday before continuing to Uzbekistan, where he met with his counterparts from five Central Asian countries. The trip included a high-profile visit to Ukraine and another meeting in Belarus. The itinerary hinted at the nature of Pompeo’s priorities, as each country is under some form of pressure from Russia or China that could undermine the sovereignty of nations that the U.S. recognized as independent after the fall of the Soviet Union.
“It reinforces our commitment to a sovereign, stable, and prosperous Central Asia that is free to pursue its interests on its own terms with partners of its choosing,” Pompeo told reporters Monday in Uzbekistan, as he promised that the administration would unveil a strategy for U.S. engagement in the region.
The energy-rich countries in Central Asia could be lucrative destinations for American investors if the governments in the region conduct themselves with enough integrity to allow Western businesses to operate fairly. Central Asia could also be a key artery of China’s vaunted Belt and Road Initiative, an infrastructure investment program that has allowed Beijing to gain sovereignty over major projects in other countries.
“We fully support Kazakhstan’s freedom to choose to do business with whatever country, whichever country, it wants,” Pompeo said on Sunday after a meeting with Kazakhstan’s foreign minister, Mukhtar Beisenuly Tileuberdi. “But I am confident. I am confident that countries get the best outcomes when they partner with American companies.” Those predictions were delivered against a backdrop of great power competition, as the Central Asian officials recognized.
“We would really not like to feel on ourselves unfavorable political consequences in relation to some competition in our region between large powers,” Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov said on Monday.
Pompeo, while touting the economic rewards that could come from Central Asia looking West, defended U.S. attempts to push back on Russian and Chinese aggression as a boon for the region.
“In this neighborhood, the Russians committed acts of aggression against Crimea and southeast Ukraine. These are the kind of things that I know Kazakhstan doesn’t want Russia to be rewarded for,” Pompeo said while discussing American sanctions on Russia. “And so the United States will continue to do that. … These are the kinds of things that America can do to help each of those countries be successful, to create independent, strong, sovereign countries. It’s what we want for Kazakhstan; it’s what we want for every country in this region.”
[Read more: China accuses US of sowing fear about deadly coronavirus]
