Report: Pence highlights Chinese ‘adversarial actions’ in appearance at leadership summit in Seoul

According to the Washington Times, former vice president Mike Pence made an appearance as a keynote speaker at the Asian Leadership Summit in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday.

The Asian Leadership Summit announced Pence will appear at the event on its social media accounts on June 24, praising the former vice president for “rebuilding the nation’s space program” during his time in the White House. Ahead of the appearance, The Washington Times reported the former VP’s speech included a harsh accusation against China of “industrial espionage.” 

“The reality is that China is remorseless about intellectual-property theft, industrial espionage, illegally subsidizing industry,” he was expected to say, according to the report. “Just last week, the director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation joined his counterpart in the United Kingdom in issuing a dire warning about the growing industrial-espionage threat posed by Chinese hackers.”

The theme of this year’s Asian Leadership Summit is “Embracing the New Normal: A Proposal for the Future.” The conference website says the summit will focus on an effort to “curate conversations of our shared experiences, lessons learned, and stories, ideas and solutions of how we adapted” during the last two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

“The past two years will go down in history as one of the most pivotal times that humankind has ever experienced. It has been a time that has unearthed human vulnerability across the world but also a time that has revealed deep resolve and resiliency,” the website reads. “As we isolated in response to the pandemic, we witnessed fractures and divisions in our societies, but also global movements of unity and progress.”