The Senate on Tuesday voted to confirm Linda Thomas-Greenfield as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, after a difficult confirmation process that saw delay and scrutiny over a speech in which she praised China’s approach in Africa.
Thomas-Greenfield was confirmed in a 78-20 vote. The timeline for her confirmation had been delayed after Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, used a procedural move to push the Senate Foreign Relations Committee vote from earlier this month.
Cruz and other Republicans had expressed concern over a 2019 speech the diplomat gave on “China-U.S.-Africa Relationships” at the Savannah State University Confucius Institute’s fifth-anniversary lecture event.
The speech, excerpts of which were reported by The Washington Post, called Chinese intervention in Africa a “win-win-win situation” in which the communist regime and the U.S. could promote good governance, gender equity and the rule of law.
“I see no reason why China cannot share in those values,” she said. “In fact, China is in a unique position to spread these ideals given its strong footprint on the continent.”
On Tuesday, Republicans cited the speech and other remarks as their reason for voting no.
“Let’s be clear that Linda Thomas-Greenfield has a record of praising and sympathizing with the Chinese Communist Party. It is not anomaly,” Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said in a statement. “An Africa expert, between 2013 and 2019 she testified before both chambers of Congress that the U.S. ‘is not competing with China in Africa.’”
“We need a U.N. ambassador who will stop Beijing in its tracks, not one who repeats the CCP’s foreign policy concepts,” she said.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) echoed concerns about Thomas-Greenfield’s remarks.
“In the last month, we have witnessed a gradual erosion of America’s resolve in confronting China. Linda Thomas-Greenfield’s nomination to be Ambassador to the UN is just another signal of weakness to Beijing, which is why I’m opposing her nomination,” Cotton wrote in a tweet on Monday.
Following the initial confirmation hearing, Cruz tweeted out a series of examples in which she showed her praise of the Chinese Communist party both before and after her speech at the Confucius Institute, noting that the 2019 speech was not a one-off.
“At a time when China I believe poses the single greatest geopolitical threat to the United States in the next century, we need a U.N. ambassador who will stand up to China, China’s pervasive influence at the United Nations, and given her record, I have no confidence that this nominee would do so,” he said.
But, Democrats on the committee pointed to those remarks to argue that she would be tough on Beijing despite the speech.
This is an excerpt from Fox News.
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