Linda Thomas-Greenfield, President Joe Biden‘s nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, was in the Senate on Wednesday (Jan. 27) for a nomination hearing, and her comments affirming China’s (CCP) strategy in Africa came to the forefront when she spoke at a fully funded Confucius Institute in 2019.
Thomas Greenfield delivers a speech on “China-U.S.-Africa Relations” at the Confucius Institute’s fifth anniversary lecture at Savannah State University on Oct. 25, 2019, for a speaking fee.
An op-ed by Josh Rogin published earlier Wednesday in The Washington Post revealed that he had obtained a copy of Thomas Greenfield’s 2019 speech that showed her calling for a “win-win-win situation” in Africa, where the United States and China (the Chinese Communist Party) work together to advance values in Africa, including good politics, gender equality and the rule of law. governance, gender equality and the rule of law.
In her speech, Thomas Greenfield said, “I see no reason why China should not share these values; in fact, given China’s (CCP) strong footprint on the continent, China is in a unique position to spread these ideals.”
In addition, she praised Beijing‘s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, which has led to a huge expansion in various aspects of African economic and even cultural Life.
She criticized the Trump (Trump) administration for viewing Africa as a battleground for great power competition. She said that the U.S. and China are not fighting a Cold War and that the notion that U.S.-China competition is good for Africa is wrong; at the same Time, she excused Beijing’s debt-trap diplomacy in Africa.
“Those in government who criticize China’s (CCP) predatory lending or acceptance of these deals must also acknowledge that in many cases the U.S. and the West have not emerged or offered viable alternatives,” she said, “especially because the U.S. has lagged in its investment in diplomatic engagement. “
Rogin said Beijing’s success in Africa is due in part to the vacuum left by the West, a point Republican senators’ aides agreed with, but they also noted that such neglect began long before Trump’s U.S. administration.
A senior aide to a Republican senator told Rogin that, in any case, “it is unbecoming for a senior U.S. diplomat to praise the genius of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) while denigrating U.S. diplomacy at the Confucius Institute.”
In addition, Rogin quoted sources as saying that Thomas Greenfield charged an honorarium of $1,500 for that speech, paid by Savannah State University.
Savannah State University closed its Confucius Institute last year because of rising American concerns about the Communist Party’s influence on U.S. campuses.
Thomas Greenfield: Speaking at Confucius Institute was a huge mistake
Thomas Greenfield said it was a “huge mistake” for her to speak at the Confucius Institute and affirm China’s (CCP) strategy in Africa.
She said she agreed to speak to students at the university as part of her longstanding commitment to encouraging young African-American students to consider careers in diplomacy.
Several Republican senatorial aides said Thomas Greenfield was giving an overly optimistic and weak speech about China’s (CCP) policies and intentions in Africa at a time when the U.S. government is exposing many of the CCP’s abuses in Africa.
James Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, questioned Thomas Greenfield’s 2019 Confucius Institute speech as the “elephant in the room.
Florida Senator Marc Rubio (R-FL), for his part, said that Thomas Greenfield’s failure to realize how China is using state-funded Confucius Institutes to promote itself in the U.S. is itself alarming.
To disarm the senator, Thomas-Greenfield told the hearing, “China [the Chinese Communist Party] is a strategic adversary, their actions threaten our security, they threaten our way of life.”
She assured members of Congress that she is conscious of the predatory tactics China (CCP) often employs. “They are a global threat.” She said.
Democrats say Thomas Greenfield has publicly warned of aggressive Chinese Communist Party
Democratic senators in the hearing, for their part, said Thomas Greenfield has repeatedly issued public warnings on other occasions about China’s (CCP) growing aggression; they said Republicans are twisting Thomas Greenfield’s words to make her sound weak on China.
Andrew Bates, a spokesman for the Biden transition, told WaPo that Thomas Greenfield attended the event because of her ties to the university, which is Georgia’s longest-running black college (HBCU), but she did not realize at the time the implications of speaking at the Communist Party-backed Confucius Institute.
“She left the event disgusted by what she learned about how the Chinese government preys on the black community, regretting accepting the invitation, and endorsing Congress’ efforts to crack down on the Confucius Institute.” Bates said.
Thomas Greenfield has on other occasions made clear her concerns about China’s (CCP) malicious behavior on the continent, and in June 2020, she called on Beijing to provide more debt relief to African countries as a result of the CCP virus (COVID-19) pandemic.
“What China (the Chinese Communist Party) is doing is simply not enough to deal with this problem.” She told a hearing of the House Intelligence Committee.
In the November/December 2020 issue of Foreign Affairs magazine, Thomas Greenfield co-authored an article with Biden’s nominee for CIA director, William Burns, titled “Diplomatic Transformation.
The article said the U.S. is “paying too little attention to the rapidly changing international landscape, and geopolitical competition with a rising China and a resurgent Russia is accelerating,” and called on the U.S. government to “develop a smart organizational response to the geopolitical competition with China.
Rogin said Thomas Greenfield, who has extensive diplomatic experience, is expected to eventually get his nomination confirmed in the Senate; her proposed deputy, Jeffrey Prescott, is a China veteran. Only if their nominations are confirmed, their job will not be to manage a “win-win-win” arrangement with Beijing, but to work with allies to defend and advance Western values and norms against attempts by the Chinese Communist Party to erode them.
“The number one foreign policy issue facing the Biden Administration is China, especially for his national security nominee,” Rogin cautioned. Rogin cautioned.
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