The Washington Post, an anti-Trump newspaper, commented that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been announcing important diplomatic decisions almost every day, such as lifting restrictions on travel between U.S. and Taiwan officials. The analysis believes that all kinds of actions are obstacles for President-elect Biden to change the country’s foreign policy in the future, so he has to face more complex challenges.
Pompeo’s recent major foreign policy announcements include re-listing Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, listing the Houthis in Yemen as a foreign terrorist organization, recognizing Morocco’s sovereignty over the long-disputed Western Sahara, and imposing a new round of sanctions on Iran, among others. Commentators see these policies as consolidating matters that Trump has seen as priorities in the past, while setting up obstacles for the Biden administration in setting new directions in the future.
Apollo.com commentator Wang Dukran said that the Washington Post article also ends by saying that Pompeo’s approach may not be what President Trump meant, but rather that Pompeo is paving the way for a 2024 campaign, purely out of selfishness. President Trump is the maker of the White House’s foreign strategy and Pompeo is the executor, but the Washington Post article makes it clear that Biden just wants to go back to Obama’s foreign policy while having the luxury of expecting President Trump to do nothing to deploy it.
Biden wants to return to the status quo ante with Taiwan
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) issue is also in focus, with the Trump administration taking a tough stance against the CCP. Pompeo withdrew restrictions on travel between U.S. and Taiwan officials, and earlier U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft was even scheduled to visit Taiwan, only to be temporarily canceled. Anti-communist sentiment is strong in the United States.
Biden wants to normalize U.S.-Cuba relations
Pompeo also listed Cuba as a state sponsor of terrorism, but Biden has said he hopes to restore the normalization of U.S.-Cuba relations that was gradually established during the Obama administration.
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