US Building New ‘NATO’ to Stand Up to China; US Universities Hiding Donations From Hostile Countries

The United States is looking to build its new Quad alliance with India, Japan, and Australia into a broader alliance, similar to NATO. Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun said in an August 31 press conference that the Indo-Pacific region doesn’t have strong structures like NATO or the European Union.

He added, however, that just standing up to the CCP wouldn’t be a strong enough driver in and of itself, and that a formalized alliance of this sort would also need to have a broader positive agenda. He noted this was the direction of the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, but said its ambitions got too big, and it fell apart under the weight of its own ambitions, and said “so I think also we have to be careful and modest here.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has placed new restrictions on the ability of Chinese diplomats to move freely in the United States, in response to similar policies on US diplomats by the Chinese regime.

The diplomats will now need permission from the US State Department if they want to visit university campuses on US soil, or meet with local government officials. They will also need approval to hold cultural events outside the Chinese embassies and consular posts, if the events have more than 50 attendees.

Meanwhile, in China, two additional issues are deepening concerns around food security. In Shandong, a type of wheat disease caused by fungus has damaged close to two million acres of wheat crops, and the situation is reportedly growing worse. It has so far impacted an estimated 123 countries and some farmlands are reporting crop losses of between 30 and 50 percent. Local officials are saying a major wheat disease in Shandong could pose a serious threat to food security.

These stories and more in this episode of Crossroads. #PompeoLimitsChineseDiplomats #UniversitiesHideDonationsFromChina #FoodCrisis