Pompeo talks Belarus, China and Russia
Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanouskaya said on Tuesday (August 11) she had fled abroad for the sake of her children after strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko's claim of victory in Sunday's presidential election prompted bloody street protests.
Pompeo's central European trip aims to discuss China and Russia as well as nuclear energy cooperation among other things.
Pompeo's visit to the Czech Republic, part of the Soviet bloc until the 1989 democratic Velvet Revolution, marked the first stop on a swing through the region to discuss cyber and energy security.
He used the occasion to swipe at both Russian and Chinese influence and lauded officials in the central European nation of 10.7 million who took on Beijing over the past year.
"We see what's happened in Hong Kong to entrepreneurs. That's the model that the Chinese Communist Party brings when they show up," Pompeo said.
"That's why I came here today, just to remind the Czech people that we work, that we stand prepared to support you if those countries try to bully you, we'll be right there alongside of you."
