The US Senate confirmed, Thursday, December 16, the appointment of Nicholas Burns as US Ambassador to China, ending more than a year of diplomatic vacancy in Beijing.
Joe Biden had appointed him in August, but it was not until Thursday that a majority emerged to confirm this experienced diplomat in his post, after Republican Senator Marco Rubio withdrew his opposition to this appointment.
Former ambassador to Greece and NATO, number three in the State Department under the presidency of George W. Bush, Nicholas Burns described, during his hearing before the Senate in October, China of“Aggressor” in the region and promised a “Lively confrontation” with Beijing, adding, however, that he hoped to be able to cooperate on topics such as climate change.
A former adviser to John Kerry
His appointment had been blocked since August by Marco Rubio, who accused him of not being tough enough with Chinese diplomacy. The senator finally let the vote take place – while still speaking out against confirmation – after the Senate voted unanimously on Thursday on a law banning the importation into the United States of a wide range of products made in Xinjiang, a Chinese region where Washington finds human rights violations against the Uighur minority.
Democrats, as well as some Republicans, argued that after more than a year without an ambassador, the United States needed a senior representative in Beijing to enforce this new law.
A career diplomat, Nicholas Burns also advised Secretary of State John Kerry between 2014 and 2017, taught at Harvard and strongly criticized Donald Trump’s foreign policy. His predecessor in Beijing, Terry Branstad, resigned in September 2020, in the midst of the presidential campaign in the United States.