Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Sri Lanka and the Maldives this month, officials of both Indian Ocean nations said on Tuesday, as Washington seeks to counter China’s growing influence in the region, Reuters reported.
Pompeo will hold two-way talks in Colombo on Oct. 28, a spokesman for Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry said, but gave no details.
Two people familiar with arrangements for the trip said Pompeo was likely to stop in the Maldives’ capital of Male for several hours on the same day.
“Incoming visits of official foreign delegations will be announced once a visit is scheduled and confirmed,” the Maldives’ foreign ministry said in a statement.
China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, visited Colombo this month. In recent years, Beijing has increasingly provided financing and construction for critical infrastructure in Sri Lanka and the Maldives, alarming traditional regional power India.
Last week, an Indian government source said Pompeo was also set to visit New Delhi this month, along with Defense Secretary Mark Esper, for talks with Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.
Meanwhile, Pompeo on Monday also warned that as the United States and Brazil reinforce their business partnership, they need to reduce their dependence on imports from China for their own security.
At a virtual summit on increased U.S.-Brazil cooperation aimed at post-pandemic recovery, Pompeo underscored the importance of expanding bilateral economic ties, given what he called “enormous risk” stemming from China’s significant participation in their economies.
“To the extent we can find ways that we can increase the trade between our two countries, we can … decrease each of our two nations’ dependence for critical items” coming from China, he said.
“Each of our two peoples will be more secure, and each of our two nations will be far more prosperous, whether that’s two or five or 10 years from now,” he added.
The Trump administration is working to boost ties with Brazil and provide a counterweight to China, keen to gain some advantage in what it sees as a new “Great Power” competition.
Brazilian far-right President Jair Bolsonaro wants to follow suit but is hamstrung by China being Brazil’s largest trade partner, which buys much of its soy and iron ore.
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