Matt Pottinger, Trump's deputy national security adviser (left), at a White House event last year. Pottinger delivered a speech on Monday in Mandarin aimed at a Chinese audience. Andrew Harnik/AP
NPR: White House Official Delivers Speech In Mandarin To Send Coronavirus Message
A top aide to President Trump on Monday delivered a critique of the Chinese government's efforts to clamp down on free speech in a speech delivered in Mandarin and seemingly aimed at the Chinese public.
Deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, who worked as a journalist in China early in his career, hailed two "brave" Chinese doctors who raised early alarms about the coronavirus and faced retribution from the Chinese government.
"When small acts of bravery are stamped out by governments, big acts of bravery follow," Pottinger said in remarks streamed for a virtual symposium held by the University of Virginia's Miller Center.
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Update #1: Trump official champions democracy for China (Straits Times)
Update #2: Speaking in Mandarin, Senior Trump Advisor Calls for Greater Freedom in China (Epoch Times)
WNU Editor: A transcript of his speech (in English) is here .... Remarks by Deputy National Security Advisor Matt Pottinger to the Miller Center at the University of Virginia (White House). His remarks on the damage that Chinese nationalism is doing are spot on.
Update #3: This analysis is a must read .... US uses coronavirus to challenge Chinese Communist party's grip on power (Julian Borger, The Guardian).
Update #4: This was the rhetoric from China before Deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger speech today .... China accuses the US of launching 'unprecedented propaganda warfare' and even blames Trump for 'impeding global efforts to fight COVID-19' after the president accused Beijing of cover-up (Daily Mail). Here is an easy prediction. It is going to escalate. The Chinese are going to respond to this speech. They have to.