Biden Nominee Linda Thomas-Greenfield Confirmed To Be The Next United Nations Ambassador
The Republican Party is never going to be like the Democrat Party in its uniform opposition to the opposing party and they proved it again.
Many of them joined with Democrats on Tuesday to confirm the Senate nomination of Linda Thomas-Greenfield to be the United Nations ambassador for the administration of President Joe Biden, The New York Times reported.
Thomas-Greenfield was confirmed by a vote of 78-20.
When President Biden announced her nomination Thomas-Greenfield responded by saying, “America is back – Multilateralism is back. Diplomacy is back.”
The nomination was held up by Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz who had fears that Thomas-Greenfield would not be tough on China.
“I intend to vote against this nominee. I have been growing increasingly concerned over the last two weeks by what appears to be a concerted, coordinated pivot towards China by the new Biden administration. We’ve been seeing nominee after nominee embracing China more closely. We’ve seen multiple nominees refuse to answer whether they would keep Huawei or other listed companies on the Entities List. One after the other, the nominees are all refusing to answer that,” the Texas senator said in a statement on February 4.
“With Ms. Thomas Greenfield, her speech at the Confucius Institute, I think, raises very serious concerns. As the members of this committee know, Confucius Institutes are controlled and paid for by the communist government of China. They engage in rampant espionage and propaganda—paid for by China. There are multiple members of this committee, Republicans and Democrats with whom I’ve worked to shut down Confucius Institutes across this country.
“The speech she gave does not have one single critical word about China. By the way, she didn’t give a speech about historically black colleges and universities. She was talking about China to the Confucius Institute. She knew who she was talking to. And the text of the speech, I don’t believe it would have read differently if the Confucius Institute had written it. Because the text of the speech, not only does she not call out China’s genocide, not only does she not call out the murder, the torture, the lies, not only does she not call out the debt traps and captivity that China is using in Africa and throughout the developing world—but she praises China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
This committee has worked together. The BUILD Act, which this committee moved forward, was designed to combat the Belt and Road Initiative. Her speech praises the Belt and Road Initiative and says that America needs to follow China’s example,” Sen. Cruz said.
“I would also note that her speech was not a one-off. I put out a whole series of remarks that Ms. Thomas-Greenfield has made over the decades, repeatedly apologizing for China, saying we’re not competing with China, which she said multiple times. And at other times she says that she viewed her role as, ‘to ensure that they [African leaders] have the capacity to strike and negotiate better deals with the Chinese.’
“China, I believe, poses the single greatest geopolitical threat to the United States over the next century. We need a U.N. ambassador who will stand up to China, to China’s pervasive influence at the United Nations. And given her record, I have no confidence that this nominee would do so.
“I would encourage folks, read the speech for yourself and ask yourself this: would you be proud to see the representative for the United States of America giving that speech at the United Nations? I don’t think the answer is yes. And I think confirming this nominee is a mistake,” he said.
“I would also note that her speech was not a one-off. I put out a whole series of remarks that Ms. Thomas-Greenfield has made over the decades, repeatedly apologizing for China, saying we’re not competing with China, which she said multiple times. And at other times she says that she viewed her role as, ‘to ensure that they [African leaders] have the capacity to strike and negotiate better deals with the Chinese.’
“China, I believe, poses the single greatest geopolitical threat to the United States over the next century. We need a U.N. ambassador who will stand up to China, to China’s pervasive influence at the United Nations. And given her record, I have no confidence that this nominee would do so.
“I would encourage folks, read the speech for yourself and ask yourself this: would you be proud to see the representative for the United States of America giving that speech at the United Nations? I don’t think the answer is yes. And I think confirming this nominee is a mistake,” he said.
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