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Pompeo Heads to Central Europe as US Looks to Confront Russian, Chinese
Influence

Nike Ching

   WASHINGTON - U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo embarks on a weeklong
   trip to central Europe on Monday, as the United States looks to
   confront Russian and Chinese economic and geopolitical competition in
   Europe.

   The top U.S. diplomat is traveling to Prague and Pilsen in the Czech
   Republic; Ljubljana, Slovenia; Vienna, Austria; and Warsaw, Poland,
   from August 11 to 15.

   Pompeo will become the first secretary of state since 2011 to visit
   Slovenia, where he will sign a Joint Declaration on 5G technology as
   Washington is countering risks posed by communist China's "infiltration
   into high-tech networks" in the region.

   The trip comes as the Pentagon prepares to move forward with a plan to
   pull almost 12,000 troops from Germany and redeploy part of the U.S.
   forces to Poland and other NATO nations, raising concerns at home and
   in Europe even as senior officials defend it as a strategic necessity.

   Ambassador Philip Reeker, the State Department's acting assistant
   secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs, said Pompeo will discuss
   with his counterparts the just-completed U.S.-Poland Enhanced Defense
   Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) that "provides a framework" to further
   strengthen "the broad transatlantic security."

   The [1]defense deal enables the United States for "rotational presence"
   of an additional 1,000 U.S. troops to "enhance deterrence against
   Russia, strengthen NATO," and to assure allies, officials say. About
   4,500 U.S. personnel are already on rotation in Poland.

   Energy security

   Energy security will also top Pompeo's discussion with leaders in
   central Europe as Russia's controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline
   that connects Russia and Germany nears completion.

   "We have been very dedicated to helping those countries find alternate
   sources so that they can diversify from Russia," said Reeker.

References

   1. https://www.defense.gov/Newsroom/Releases/Release/Article/2297502/secretary-of-defense-statement-on-completion-of-the-us-poland-enhanced-defense/source/GovDelivery/

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