US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has become one of the most antagonistic figures toward China in the current US administration. His tendency to breathe fire against China goes against his stature as secretary of state. The US State Department is the largest executive branch of US diplomacy and the protagonist of the design of American foreign policy. Its mission should be to build relationships, not tear them apart. But Pompeo's role in ties with China has upturned this conventional wisdom.

The nature of China-US relations will largely determine the direction of US diplomacy and international relations as a whole. Pompeo's efforts to freeze US-China relations suggest he is heralding the arrival of "winter" of global diplomacy.

Pompeo, who spent more than a year as CIA director before heading the State Department, has been repeatedly accused of using CIA thinking to steer the ship of US diplomacy. The diplomat reportedly said at a rally in April this year, "I was the CIA director. We lied, we cheated, we stole. We had entire training courses. It reminds you of the glory of the American experiment." It is a sad time for the world to deal with such a US secretary of state.

Pompeo is also a member of the American "Tea Party." The Tea Party represents the right wing in America. It has a strong sense of racial superiority filled with hatred. With that kind of political tendency and ambition, Pompeo came to being the secretary of state. His mind was not at all focused on instilling professionalism into America's top diplomatic position. Instead, it is about venting political ire while paving the way for one's larger political ambitions.

Diplomacy is governed by international conventions, which require all countries to observe basic norms. Pompeo behaves like a gangster. He is abandoning the traditional US major-power diplomacy and defying the gentle style of diplomats. 

Pompeo constricted the space of diplomatic flexibility, and turned diplomacy into a nasty collision. 

So far this year, North Korea, one of US President Donald Trump's top diplomatic priorities, has been the first to effectively declare Pompeo "persona non grata." North Korea has said publicly that if Pompeo remains at the talks, there will be chaos at the negotiating table again, so it wants a more cautious and mature replacement.

It is believed there are many other countries that don't like the top US diplomat very much, and find it tiring to deal with him — unable to communicate on a professional basis. Pompeo is becoming an obstacle to Washington's breakthroughs in some important areas of diplomacy.

Pompeo needs to figure out what the responsibilities of a diplomat are. As a top US diplomat, he is responsible for international peace and stability. He cannot violate important diplomatic rules and ties wantonly, or for personal gain and ambition. He should know that history will not forgive him if he goes against diplomatic ethics.