Long approval process for ambassadors puts US at disadvantage against China in diplomacy: Blinken

By Firdevs Bulut Kartal

TORONTO (AA) - The US is at a disadvantage against China in terms of diplomacy due to the prolonged approval processes in Congress for ambassadors, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday.

Blinken made the remarks while answering questions on US competition with China at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing along with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

“China now has a handful more diplomatic posts around the world than we do. We’ve got 173. They have roughly 180. Each one of theirs has a fully accredited ambassador. We currently have 14 nominees on the floor pending confirmation, many of whom have been in this process for a year or more. We have another 40 who are somewhere else in the process going through their hearings, evaluation by the committee. So we are acting at a deficit and a disadvantage,” said Blinken.

“China is able not only to be present in more places, but it’s got fully accredited ambassadors in each of those, and that makes a difference,” he added.

Referring to the work of the Center for Global Engagement, which was established under the US State Department, Blinken noted that the agencies and television channels of China and Russia provide free news services in South America and Africa.

"And so if you're getting up in the morning, in dozens of countries, and listening to the news or reading a newspaper, you're getting information that sounds like it's being locally produced but is in fact directly from the wire services of China or the Russian Federation. We are now making available to these countries the Associated Press, Reuters and other objective sources of information," he said.

During the session, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham reacted to Blinken for not including Russia on the list of countries that support terrorism to prevent China's support for Russia.

To Graham's question, "You're never going to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, are you?" Blinken said: "Never say never.”

Answering questions in the session, Defense Secretary Austin said China “is our only competitor with both the intent and increasingly the capacity to reshape the international system to suit its autocratic preferences. Beijing has increased its bullying and provocations in the Indo Pacific. It has embarked upon an historic military buildup including in space and cyberspace."

The US is delivering critical capabilities through more agile approaches to testing and acquisition and is developing new operational concepts for how it employs joint force in national defense strategy, he added.

Emphasizing that the US sees China as a close competitor, Austin said that Washington does not seek a new Cold War but will not back down from competing with Beijing.

The US budget has seen a 40% increase over last year's request for the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and it has reached an all-time high of $9.1 billion, he added.