The Moment I Asked Pompeo to Help Taiwan Get Vaccines, He Said Just Two Words
In May 2021, I interviewed Mike Pompeo across the Pacific.
By rights, an interview is the reporter asking and the subject answering. But halfway through, I did something that wasn't on the question list — I asked him, to his face, to help Taiwan get vaccines, and fast.
The moment I opened my mouth, my heart was racing.
I have interviewed twelve foreign heads of state. But that time was different — because I wasn't only asking a question, I was speaking for a Taiwan that was waiting for vaccines. Asking questions is the job. That one sentence was a responsibility.
When the interview ended, I asked about the chance of him visiting Taiwan again.
He answered in just two words: "It's done!"
Two words. No pleasantries, no "let me think about it," no "we'll arrange something." Just: done.
I've thought about those two words many times since. The weight of a promise never lies in how beautifully it's phrased — it lies in whether the person can, and will, deliver it. Politics is full of pretty phrases: "we will continue to monitor closely," "we take this seriously" — words that amount to nothing, because no one actually intends to follow through. Pompeo's "It's done" carried weight because it was short, it was categorical, and it came from a man in the habit of doing what he says.
That this worked out wasn't because I ask good questions. It was because those two-plus years of preparation, that accumulation, meant that when I spoke up from that seat, the other side felt the request was worth taking seriously.
I spoke up for Taiwan not because I'd landed a big name, but because I've always believed my job is to make Taiwan seen and heard by the world.
One "It's done" is worth more than a hundred lines of diplomatic language — because behind it is a person willing to deliver, answering a request worth answering.