"The Story" host Martha MacCallum pressed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on whether rapidly increasing tensions with China have led the two world powers into a Cold War, similar to the U.S.-Soviet relationship in the 20th century.
MacCallum asked Pompeo about the federal government's closure of a Chinese Consulate in Houston -- which followed a fire in the building during which people were burning paper in what appeared to be trash cans, according to witnesses and police.
Multiple intelligence sources told Fox News Thursday that one major reason the consulate closed, as opposed to other Chinese diplomatic outposts, was because the CCP was carrying out threats and intimidation tactics targeting U.S. energy firms in the South China Sea.
In return, the Chinese government claimed the U.S.-ordered closure is a provocation that violates international law, according to the Associated Press.
"The Consul in Houston says they said they do not have plans to leave that consulate right now, what is your response to that?" MacCallum first asked.
"Everyone knows the rules for diplomats, you're only permitted to be there in a diplomatic status with the consent of the host nation. So, I'm confident, we've had private conversations as well, we will proceed in a way that makes clear, it's not OK to use your diplomats to engage in industrial espionage, it's not OK to steal intellectual property [or] engage in those kinds of behaviors. That's the reason we did it: We did it to protect the American people."
The host added that China reportedly threatened retaliation in the form of potentially closing U.S. outposts in Chengdu and/or Wuhan, pressing Pompeo as to whether that might come to pass.
"Let's go back to first principles: ... for 40 plus years -- this is why I am at the Nixon Library today -- America has turned the other cheek while we watched the Chinese Communist Party engage in activity that's not fair to the American people, it's not reciprocal for the American people, and it doesn't have the transparency we need so we can engage with China in a way that's fair for our people and provide security for our people, that's what we are aiming to do," Pompeo responded. "This decision about the [Houston] consulate is consistent with a whole bunch of other actions that we've taken and a whole bunch more that we are going to continue to do until we get the change."
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MacCallum later considered whether the actions involving the Houston consulate, combined with other actions on both sides of the Pacific have brought upon that same atmosphere that Washington once had in its relationship with the Kremlin.
"We talk about sanctions that we have, there are military exercises that have become somewhat more prominent in the region, we have two hackers that just received indictments, are we in a Cold War right now with China?" she asked. "If we are not, it certainly looks like we are."
Pompeo said that China continues to leave a trail of broken promises involving things "central to how great power-nations behave."
He said that Chinese President Xi Jinping promised the Obama administration he would not militarize the South China Sea, and also that the Chinese had made a pact with Great Britain in 1999 involving the 50-year relative autonomy of Hong Kong.
"He busted it -- he broke it. The United States is simply demanding that if the Chinese Communist Party wants to be considered in the league of nations that have great power and great roles and great importance, they have to behave according to promises that they make -- and the rules that have been set out for sovereign nations to preserve freedom for their own people, that's what we are seeking to see happen," Pompeo said.
"Label it what you must but President Trump understands that previous administrations -- both Republican and Democrat alike -- to turn the other cheek for an awfully long time and it resulted in a real imbalance in the relationship between the United States and China -- and we aim to fix it."
Fox News' Gillian Turner and Brooke Singman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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