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Politico, CNN: Pompeo Plans To Meet In Hawaii With China Officials

Yuri Gripas/Pool via AP
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks as Attorney General William Barr listens, during a joint briefing, Thursday, June 11, 2020 at the State Department in Washington, D.C.

Politico and CNN are reporting that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is planning to meet with China officials at Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu early this week.

CNN quotes two unnamed U.S. officials and one Western diplomat regarding the trip. They were not authorized to speak about the meeting and declined to say which Chinese officials Pompeo will be seeing.

The State Department has not released a statement on the trip, which CNN says will last for 24 hours on the ground in Hawaii, according to one U.S. official.

It's unclear what the topics of the meeting will be, although if it occurs, comes at a time of increased tensions between China and the U.S.

Pompeo has blasted China for its lack of transparency about the coronavirus pandemic, which began in China and has infected 7.9 million people and killed 433,000 worldwide as of Sunday, according to John Hopkins University.

He has also criticized China state media for its comments on the U.S. response to national protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

Gov. David Ige's communications director, Cindy McMillan, said by email Monday that the governor's office had no details regarding a trip by the secretary of state.

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