‘The West is winning’

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo yesterday defended his nation's global role despite misgivings in Europe, vowing that Western values would prevail over Russian and Chinese desires for "empire".

Seeking to reassure Europeans troubled by US President Donald Trump's "America first" rhetoric, his ambivalence over the Nato military alliance and tariffs on European goods, Pompeo said there was no crisis in Western leadership.

"I'm happy to report that the death of the transatlantic alliance is grossly exaggerated. The West is winning, and we're winning together," he said in a speech at the Munich Security Conference, listing US steps to protect liberal democracies.

Pompeo was, in part, responding to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who on Friday accused the United States, Russia and China of making the world more dangerous.

French President Emmanuel Macron told the conference of international leaders, lawmakers and diplomats he was not surprised by Steinmeier's speech and had liked it.

"There is a weakening of the West," the French leader said.

"There's an American policy that started several years ago and not just under this administration that includes a certain kind of withdrawal, of a rethink of its relationship with Europe."

"We cannot be the United States' junior partner," Macron said, adding that while he supported Nato, Europe needed to be able to tackle threats in its neighbourhood and at times act independently of Washington.

"I'm impatient for European solutions," Macron said.

Taking the stage later, China's State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi dismissed US criticism of his country as "lies".

"All these accusations against China are lies, not based on facts," Wang told the Munich Security Conference. "But if we replace the subject of the lie from China to America, maybe those lies become facts."

Trump's decision to pull out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, as well as the Paris climate accord, have undermined European priorities, while moves such as recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital have weakened European diplomacy, envoys say.

Pompeo defended the US strategy, saying Europe, Japan and other American allies were united on China, Iran and Russia, despite "tactical differences."

Citing Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, cyber threats in Iran and economic coercion by China, Pompeo said those countries were still "desiring empires" and destabilising the rules-based international system.

Noting that Russian intervention in Western democracies is on the rise, Macron said the West's policy of defiance towards Moscow in recent years had failed and, as nobody wanted to confront it directly, the only option was to have a closer dialogue to resolve differences.

US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, speaking immediately after Pompeo, focused his remarks solely on China, accusing Beijing of a "nefarious strategy" through telecommunications firm Huawei.

"It is essential that we as an international community wake up to the challenges presented by Chinese manipulation of the long-standing international rules-based order," Esper said.

He said it was not too late for Britain, which last month said it would allow Huawei a limited role in building its 5G networks, to take "two steps back," but added he still needed to asses London's decision.