The Senate voted on Tuesday to confirm Linda Thomas-Greenfield as the US ambassador to the United Nations, after a difficult confirmation process that led to delays and analysis in a speech in which she praised China’s approach to Africa.
Thomas-Greenfield was confirmed in a 78-20 vote. The schedule for its confirmation was postponed after Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, used a procedural move to push the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee’s vote earlier this month.
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Cruz and other Republicans expressed concern about the diplomat’s 2019 speech on “China-US-Africa Relations” at the Savannah State University’s Confucius Institute’s fifth anniversary lecture event.
The speech, excerpts from which were reported by The Washington Post, called Chinese intervention in Africa a “win-win-win situation” in which the communist regime and the US could promote good governance, gender equality and the state right.
“I see no reason why China cannot share these values,” she said. “In fact, China is in a unique position to publicize these ideals, given its strong presence on the continent.”
On Tuesday, Republicans cited the speech and other remarks as a reason to vote no.
The United States ambassador to the United Nations nominee, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, testified during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee at the Capitol, Wednesday, January 27, 2021, in Washington. (Michael Reynolds / Pool via AP)
“Let’s make it clear that Linda Thomas-Greenfield has a history of praise and sympathy for the Chinese Communist Party. It is not an anomaly,” said Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., In a statement. “A specialist in Africa, between 2013 and 2019, she testified before the two chambers of Congress that the US ‘is not competing with China in Africa’.”
“We need a UN ambassador who stops Beijing on its tracks, not one who repeats the CCP’s foreign policy concepts,” she said.
The 2019 speech was the focus of her confirmation audience, in which she regretted the words. Thomas-Greenfield said he now supports efforts to crack down on the Confucius Institute.
“Honestly, I wish I hadn’t accepted this specific invitation and I left the experience frankly alarmed at how the Confucius Institute was engaging with the black community in Georgia,” she said.
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She also promised that the United States would take a firm stand against Chinese influence at the UN – where Beijing has been steadily increasing its power for years.
“We know that China is working across the UN system to drive an authoritarian agenda that opposes the institution’s founding values - American values,” she said. “Their success depends on our continued withdrawal. This is not going to happen under my command.”
After the initial confirmation hearing, Cruz tweeted a series of examples in which she praised the Chinese Communist Party before and after her speech at the Confucius Institute, noting that the 2019 speech was not isolated.
“At a time when China, I believe, poses the greatest geopolitical threat to the United States in the next century, we need a UN ambassador to confront China, China’s widespread influence at the United Nations, and given its track record, I I have no confidence that this nominee would, “he said.
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But Democrats on the committee pointed to these remarks to argue that she would be tough on Beijing, despite the speech.
“You can find speeches, comments and addresses from presidents, CEOs, senators and diplomats from both parties for decades, saying positive and complimentary things about China and its future,” said Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del .. “And if we want to play a game where we go back and point out something that was done here and there that was positive about China, we can play Punch and Judy almost indefinitely on a party basis.”
Meanwhile, the State Department said Thomas-Greenfield “has been sounding the alarm for China for decades”.
Thomas-Greenfield will be pushed to work at a busy time in Turtle Bay. In addition to dealing with diplomatic challenges in places like Libya, Yemen, China and Iran, the Biden government has been rapidly undoing the UN’s Trump era policies.
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Biden has so far suspended the withdrawal from the World Health Organization, reentered the United States in the Paris climate agreement and indicated that he wants to rejoin the Human Rights Council.
Hugh Dugan, a former US delegate to the United Nations, where he served under 11 ambassadors, told Fox News that the new US ambassador must act quickly to contain China’s ambitions.
“Linda Thomas-Greenfield as ambassador must bring the US allies together to defend themselves against the kidnapping of the UN mark by the Communist Party of China to divert attention from their failures at COVID-19, undermine human rights and sow their authoritarianism in large countries and small “he said.
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“It needs to sound the alarm for Washington to bring together a US talent bank to perform better in multilateral arenas against China and other opponents’ UN game plans,” he said.
Next week, Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield may face a kind of baptism by fire, as his first role will be to assume the presidency of the Council in March, while the United States takes over the presidency of the United Kingdom. The US will be leading the council’s agenda for March and will play an influential role in the council’s program.