China’s Engagement in Africa Becomes Focal Point at Linda Thomas- Greenfield’s Confirmation Hearing to Become U.S. Envoy to the UN

Linda Thomas-Greenfield (photo), President Biden’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, came under criticism on Wednesday during her confirmation hearing, for a speech she made in 2019 at a now-closed Confucius Institute in Savannah, Georgia. Republican senators argued the speech was overly complimentary of Chinese engagement in Africa.

In that speech (transcript), Thomas-Greenfield said both the U.S. and China could learn from each other’s experience in Africa in contributing to African development. The portion of the speech that got the most attention at yesterday’s hearing, however, was the play on China’s “win-win development” motto:

“In the U.S.-China-Africa relationship, win-win-win cooperation is possible and common development can be achieved. If we all took a step back to consider it, we would see that if we banded together to support Africa’s growth and development, we would all be better for it.”

Asked by Idaho Senator James Risch to comment on the speech, Linda-Thomas Greenfield said the speech was a “huge mistake” and her remarks back then no longer reflect how she feels about China today.

After reassuring members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that she now feels China is a “strategic adversary” of the United States and that she would work to oppose China’s efforts “to drive an authoritarian agenda” at the UN and around the world, the questioning then circled back to the issue of China’s presence in Africa.

Utah Senator Mitt Romney asked Thomas-Greenfield, who was once Washington’s top diplomat for Africa, to comment on the nature of Chinese engagement on the continent:

SENATOR MITT ROMNEY: How has China’s investment strategy in Africa worked out for the African nations, and I know there are many nations and you’ll have various experiences in different nations, but as you look one-by-one has it worked out well, one, for the nations themselves and, number two, for China? Has it fulfilled their purpose they had intended when making those investments?

LINDA THOMAS GREENFIELD: The answer to that is that it has not worked for Africans and it has not worked in the same way that the Chinese would have expected it to work. I have seen over the 35 years of my career an increased amount of activity by the Chinese. But where they have failed and we constantly see reports that indicate this that Africans still prefer if at all possible to work with the United States and we need to take advantage of that sentiment and be more proactive in our engagements on the African continent.

When they have a choice, they choose us.

So, if I’m confirmed, one of the areas I intend to work very aggressively on is engaging with my colleagues across the African continent and trying to address some of the issues they’re facing in dealing with the Chinese and also pushing a more proactive engagement by the United States with Africa.

SENATOR ROMNEY: Thank you, ambassador. I would note that I ask the question about the experience of Africa in part because of your extensive involvement there but I would note that China is making the same effort in Latin America, the Caribbean and particularly in the Pacific… so this is an issue that’s worldwide in scope.

SUGGESTED READING:

• The New York Times: Linda Thomas-Greenfield, Biden’s pick for U.N. ambassador, calls 2019 China speech ‘a huge mistake.’ by Pranshu Verma
• South China Morning Post: US ambassador to UN nominee Linda Thomas-Greenfield pledges to counter China’s ‘authoritarian agenda’ by Owen Churchill

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The post China’s Engagement in Africa Becomes Focal Point at Linda Thomas- Greenfield’s Confirmation Hearing to Become U.S. Envoy to the UN appeared first on The China Africa Project.

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