Mike Pompeo has held talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during his visit to Berlin PC REUTERS

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has warned of the dangers posed by Russia and China, and called on Nato to grow and confront “the challenges of today”.

On a visit to Berlin, Mr Pompeo said methods used by China to suppress its own people would be “horrifyingly familiar” to East Germans.

And he accused Russia of invading its neighbours and crushing dissent.

He laughed off comments from French President Emmanuel Macron, who said recently that Nato was “brain dead”.

But Mr Pompeo told reporters: “Seventy years on… it needs to grow and change. It needs to confront the realities of today and the challenges of today.

“If nations believe that they can get the security benefit without providing Nato the resources that it needs, if they don’t live up to their commitments, there is a risk that Nato could become ineffective or obsolete.”

US President Donald Trump has frequently accused European Nato members of failing to provide their fair share of military spending and of relying too heavily on the US for their defence.

Nato celebrates its 70th anniversary at a summit in London next month.

He was speaking in Berlin a day before the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Referring to that event, Mr Pompeo said “the West – all of us – lost our way in the afterglow of that proud moment”.

He said the US and its allies should “defend what was so hard-won… in 1989” and “recognise we are in a competition of values with un-free nations”.

“We thought we could divert our resources away from alliances, and our militaries. We were wrong,” he said.

“Today, Russia – led by a former KGB officer once stationed in Dresden [President Vladimir Putin] – invades its neighbours and slays political opponents.”