As President Joe Biden‘s cabinet hearings continue, the vote on Ambassador to the United Nations nominee Linda Thomas-Greenfield has been delayed due to revelations that she gave a speech at the Confucius Institute praising China, making senators suspicious.
The Senate has been in a state of flux since the beginning of the 20th century. But senior Republican Senator Cruz, citing a Washington Post report, said that Thomas Greenfield gave a paid speech at the Confucius Institute in Georgia in October 2019, emphasizing that the Confucius Institute is a major outreach organization funded by the Chinese government, and that it had only recently been suppressed by the administration and Congress on a cross-party basis.
Thomas Greenfield said she was invited by Savannah State University, Georgia’s oldest black college, to speak on a variety of African issues, and that the university did offer a $1,500 gift. But after seeing how the Confucius Institute treats the African community and the poor in Georgia, she was so shocked and totally unacceptable that she “strongly regretted” giving the speech.
Cruz then presented a copy of Thomas Greenfield’s speech, emphasizing that it was full of praise for China, including the Belt and Road and the debt trap for Africa, and suggesting that the United States “follow the Chinese model” without mentioning human rights persecution and concentration camps in China.
Thomas Greenfield explained that her intent was to make Africa look at China and to expect the United States to do more in Africa. She reiterated that she did not mean to deny the speech and regretted it, “but it was just a speech, and one only has to look at the results of my 35 years of work to know that I know China and have no unrealistic illusions about them.”
Cruz, however, still exercised his right to ask for a vote to be postponed until Thursday local Time, which would delay the certification of Thomas Greenfield’s personnel until at least next week.
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