BERLIN - Russia slays political opponents and China's tactics would be "horrifyingly familiar" to former East Germans, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday, describing free nations as being in a "competition of values" with unfree nations.
In a speech in Berlin on the lessons of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, Pompeo said "the West - all of us - lost our way in the afterglow of that proud moment."
"We thought could divert our resources away from alliances, and our militaries. We were wrong," he said.
"Today, Russia – led by a former KGB officer once stationed in Dresden ‒ invades its neighbours and slays political opponents," he said. "In China, the Chinese Communist Party is shaping a new vision of authoritarianism."
"Let's stand together in unity," he concluded. "Let's stand together as allies."