The U.S. Senate voted 26 to approve Antony Blinken as secretary of state.
Blinken, who had served as deputy secretary of state and deputy national security adviser during the Obama era, is also a longtime friend and diplomatic adviser to President Joe Biden.
The U.S. Senate today passed with a high vote the personnel case of Burken as Secretary of State, is the fourth nomination approved by the Biden cabinet officials. After taking office, Balken is expected to make good on his promise during the hearing to assist Taiwan‘s self-defense and expand Taiwan’s international engagement.
The Senate today voted 78 to 22 to approve Antony Blinken’s nomination. He is the fourth President Biden (Joe Biden) cabinet official to have his nomination approved by the Senate, following National Intelligence Director Avril Haines, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.
He was one of Biden’s closest staffers for nearly 20 years and served as his national security adviser for four years when he first entered the White House as vice president in early 2009, before becoming deputy secretary of state and hosting Tsai Ing-wen, then a Democratic Progressive Party presidential contender, in the State Department in 2015.
The State Department, which is responsible for foreign affairs, is the U.S. federal agency most closely involved with Taiwan. In his testimony at the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the 19th of this month, Buerken said that he would continue the U.S. commitment to Taiwan after taking office, not only to assist Taiwan in its self-defense, but also to support Taiwan’s international participation.
Balken said at the Time that the U.S. commitment to Taiwan is firm and longstanding across party lines, such as the Taiwan Relations Act and the U.S.-China Communiqué, and that part of that commitment is to ensure that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself against foreign aggression. He stressed that the Biden Administration would absolutely continue these commitments to ensure that Taiwan has the ability to defend itself.
Turning to Taiwan’s international involvement, Buerken noted that he would like to see Taiwan play a larger role around the world, including in international organizations. In many ways (Taiwan) is a model democracy, a robust economy and a high-technology powerhouse, and certainly they have a lot to teach us about the way they are responding to the 2019 coronavirus disease (Chinese communist virus, COVID-19) outbreak,” he said.
In response to the Chinese Communist Party‘s threat of force against Taiwan, a senator asked Buerken at the hearing whether the Chinese Communist Party would pay a heavy price if it violated Taiwan by force. He said bluntly at the time that it would be “a grievous mistake” for Beijing to do so.
During the hearing, Bulken also expressed concern about Beijing’s increased oppression of Hong Kong and Xinjiang in recent years, and admitted that China is undoubtedly the country that poses the greatest challenge to U.S. interests.
Buerken said he agreed with former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when he identified the Chinese Communist Party’s suppression of the Uighur people in Xinjiang as “genocide“; he also criticized the Communist Party’s implementation of national security laws in Hong Kong, suppression of the media and freedom of speech and assembly for Hong Kong people, and expressed hope that the United States would take in some of the pro-democracy protesters who had to flee Hong Kong.
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