Biden‘s Commerce Secretary nominee, Gina Raimondo, again refused to commit to continuing sanctions against huawei, and his appointment process was delayed by opposition from Republican Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and others. Cruz has repeatedly said that the Biden Administration is “embracing the Chinese Communist Party.
On Wednesday (Feb. 3), the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation voted 21-3 to approve Raimondo’s nomination for appointment so that she could move on to a final Senate confirmation vote by the full chamber. The three votes against included Rep. Cruz.
During the appointment hearing, Republican lawmakers again urged Raimondo to make a clear statement on whether she continues to keep Chinese companies such as Huawei on the list of entities subject to restricted transactions, Bloomberg reported.
In response, Raimondo replied, “I currently have no reason to believe that the entities on the list should not remain on the list. If (the nomination) is confirmed, I look forward to briefings on these and other entities of concern.”
Raimondo’s response still avoids the question of how Huawei will be handled once he takes office. However, some overseas “mainstream” Chinese media reported on Raimondo’s “clear statement on Huawei’s position”.
According to the U.S. media, because of Raimondo’s unclear position, Congressman Cruz put Raimondo’s nomination process on hold after Wednesday’s vote, causing her Senate vote to be postponed for a day. On Thursday, Cruz himself tweeted in response to the above message that he would lift the hold when the Biden administration promised to keep Huawei, the massive Chinese Communist spy agency, on the list of entities.
I’ll lift the hold when the Biden admin commits to keep the massive Chinese Communist Party spy operation Huawei on the Entity List. https://t.co/HaY6IhUHpu
- Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) February 4, 2021
This is not the first Time the Biden administration has refused to commit to continued sanctions against Huawei. Last week, Raimondo recused himself from dealing with Huawei for the first time during his Senate nomination confirmation hearings. Only after pressure from several Republican lawmakers did a White House spokesman acknowledge Huawei’s security threat at a press conference and state that he would not use Huawei equipment, but still did not clarify whether to continue sanctions against Huawei.
On Wednesday, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), the ranking Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, joined 20 House members in calling on the Senate to suspend the confirmation process for Raimondo until the Biden administration clarifies its position on Huawei.
In addition to resisting Raimondo’s appointment, Cruz also tweeted that he opposes Linda Thomas-Greenfield, who has given pro-China speeches at the Confucius Institute, as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Cruz has repeatedly expressed concern about the Biden administration’s tendency to “embrace Beijing. In a statement to Fox News last week, he said he was disappointed by the response of Raimondo and other Biden administration officials on Huawei and that “the Biden team seems to be rushing to embrace the worst parts of the Chinese Communist Party.
Recent Comments