Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), President Donald Trump’s nominee to characterize the U.S. on the United Nations, on Tuesday painted the worldwide group as a physique beset by bias in opposition to Israel, nefarious Chinese language affect and ineffective peacekeeping efforts.
However she argued the U.N. isn’t irredeemable and pledged that she’d assist usher “strong American leadership” on the multilateral physique.
Earlier than a usually cordial panel of senators on the Overseas Relations Committee, the New York Republican stated Washington may nonetheless thwart rising Chinese language affect on the worldwide stage by rising its presence on the international discussion board.
“We need to have strong American leadership working with our allies to push back on this,” Stefanik stated. “China has made inroads in placing CCP leaders and Chinese diplomats in positions as heads of various sub-U.N. agencies, but also at the most junior level,” she added, utilizing the acronym for the Chinese language Communist Social gathering.
Stefanik stated she’d try to extend the variety of U.S. residents working throughout the United Nations system and work with faculties and universities to recruit early-career professionals to that finish, calling it a “human capital strategy” to fight China.
She pledged to be a powerful advocate for Israel, declaring that the spate of U.N. resolutions in opposition to Israel amid its battle with the Palestinians reveals the U.S. “is not meeting the mission of international peace and security.” She stated she’d work to evaluation the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Lebanon to evaluation the way it allowed Iran-backed proxy Hezbollah to rearm and regroup.
Stefanik additionally stated she’d give attention to reforming the U.N. system and making certain that U.S. funding is “going to programs through the U.N. that work, that have a basis in the rule of law, that have a basis in transparency and accountability, and strengthen our national security and our partnerships.” She particularly known as out the U.N. Aid and Works Company, the primary company tasked with distributing humanitarian help in Gaza, saying it turned a blind eye to native employees’ ties to the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
UNRWA has pushed again on such claims from Stefanik and others, saying that studies that giant numbers of employees participated within the Oct. 7 assaults in opposition to Israel had been inaccurate.
The average Republican turned ardent Trump backer is mostly anticipated to be simply confirmed and with out a lot critical opposition from Senate Democrats who see her as much less polemical than different nominees and broadly agree along with her on the necessity to help Israel.
Democrats largely saved their questions targeted on coverage, although there was a short back-and-forth over a gesture from tech mogul and Trump ally Elon Musk at a Monday rally that was in comparison with a Nazi salute. They averted questioning Stefanik on her positions on the Jan. 6, 2021, assaults, even after Trump pardoned hundreds accused, and in some instances convicted, of storming the U.S. Capitol the night time earlier than.
It’s unclear whether or not Stefanik’s playbook will differ tremendously from that adopted by Trump’s envoys to the U.N. in his first administration, wherein the U.S. recurrently lashed out on the physique and pulled out of some teams, together with the Human Rights Council.
