#Mike Pompeo to meet with Chinese officials this week in Hawaii

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is planning to meet with Chinese officials in Hawaii as early as this week, according to multiple reports.

Plans for the trip, first reported Friday by Politico, have not yet been finalized. Should the trip occur, the nation’s top diplomat will only be on the ground in Hawaii for about 24 hours, according to CNN.

Pompeo plans to discuss “a wide range of issues during the meeting,” which will take place at Hickam Air Force Base, CNN reports.

Sources for either outlet would not say which Chinese officials Pompeo had planned meetings with, though the network reports that there are currently no plans to bring reporters on the trip.

Tensions between the two global superpowers have been magnified in recent months as a result of a bitter trade war and the coronavirus pandemic.

President Trump signed phase one of the deal with China in January, ending the tariff fight between the two countries that took place amid months of tense negotiations.

Since then, relations have soured as the Communist nation has faced a wave of international scrutiny for its lack of transparency at the onset of the coronavirus outbreak.

President Trump and top administration officials — most notably Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — have squarely blamed China for the global health emergency. Beijing, meanwhile, has been engaged in a months-long smear campaign against the three men.

In early May, Trump told The Post in an Oval Office interview that Chinese authorities were responsible for the virus’ spread.

“I think the worst part of it was they could have extinguished the fire. And they could have stopped people from traveling and extinguished the fire. And they did stop people from traveling to China, but not to other parts of the world. So it’s a very sad event, I will tell you,” he remarked.

The commander-in-chief said during a Fox News town hall in May that if China did not uphold its end of the bargain, there would be consequences.

Responding to a question from a business owner who said he was losing money on tariffs placed on China, Trump said the duties in the trade agreement required China to make those $250 billion in purchases.

“Now they have to buy, and if they don’t buy, we’ll terminate the deal. Very simple,” he assured the man.

Asked by a reporter in the Oval Office one week later whether he was pleased with how China was fulfilling the trade deal, the president said he would have an answer “in a week or two,” but added that it was something the White House was “watching closely.”

“They’re buying a lot of farm product, but are they buying to the level that they were supposed to? You know, they were going to buy $50 billion worth [of US farm goods], the most they ever did was $15 or 16 [billion]. And now they’re going to … anywhere between $40 to 50 [billion] in terms of farm [goods], but $250 billion overall,” he added.

In the weeks since making those comments, Trump administration officials have been in debate over whether to stick with the deal if China is unable to meet its purchasing requirements, according to Reuters.

Officials close to Trump have said that both he and the administration have little hope that China will be able to maintain its end of the deal, the outlet reported.

Still, walking away from the deal could cause further economic harm, a risk the commander-in-chief is aware of.

Canceling the agreement could risk an increase in unemployment at a time when US job losses are already at an all-time high, reigniting a fraught trade dispute as the global economy struggles to bounce back.

Despite doubts, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He maintained China’s pledge last month that it would implement the agreement.

A State Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.