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NEW YORK The election of President-elect Joe Biden to be his ambassador to the United Nations in New York will have to address Washington’s waning leadership of the world body in the face of a more assertive China, diplomats and analysts said on Monday (November 23) .
Biden nominated veteran American diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield and restored the post to a cabinet post. If confirmed by the United States Senate, Thomas-Greenfield would succeed President Donald Trump’s two UN envoys: first Nikki Haley, who was in the cabinet, and then Kelly Craft, who was not. Both had little experience in foreign policy before taking office.
Thomas-Greenfield is a 35-year veteran of the United States Foreign Service who has served on four continents, perhaps most notably in Africa.
“My mother taught me to lead with the power of kindness and compassion to make the world a better place. I have carried that lesson with me throughout my Foreign Service career and, if confirmed, I will do the same as Ambassador. at the United Nations, “Thomas-Greenfield tweeted Monday.
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Thomas-Greenfield, who is black, described last year how that approach helped her when she was an American diplomat in Rwanda during the April 1994 genocide and faced a “glassy-eyed young man” who had mistaken her for a woman he had been. sent to kill.
“I looked that young man in the eye and asked his name. And I told him mine … If he killed me, I wanted him to know the name of the person he had killed,” he said during a presentation. . “I used the power of kindness and compassion and I would survive.”
Thomas-Greenfield most recently served as undersecretary of state for Africa during the administration of President Barack Obama, leading American policy toward sub-Saharan Africa during tumultuous events like the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.
‘GRINDING WORK’
If confirmed, he would join his counterparts with decades of experience in international diplomacy from Britain, France, China and Russia, who together with the United States make up the five permanent members of the UN Security Council with veto power.
“The billion-dollar question looming over the United States at the UN is whether Thomas-Greenfield can contain China’s growing influence in the organization, something that Trump’s slash-and-burn approach to multilateralism has failed.” said Richard Gowan, International Crisis Director of the UN Group.
“That will take a lot of hard work to build trust with non-Western diplomats,” he said.
Beijing has been pushing for greater multilateral influence in a challenge to traditional US leadership and tensions between the two superpowers have reached a boiling point at the United Nations over the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
China and the United States “working together to promote a greater role for the UN in addressing global challenges is not only what the world wants, but also the common interests of the two countries,” said a Chinese diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. Reuters on Monday.
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Trump’s wariness toward multilateralism also prompted the United States to announce plans to resign from the World Health Organization, withdraw from the UN Human Rights Council, the UN cultural agency UNESCO, and a global agreement to address climate change. .
Jeffrey Feltman, a veteran US diplomat who served as UN chief of political affairs from 2012 to 2018, described Thomas-Greenfield as “tailor-made for the kind of diplomacy we need today to restore US leadership and rebuild multilateral alliances. to face today’s global challenges. “
UN diplomats widely welcomed Biden’s announcement.
“A woman of color, a woman of substance and a woman of experience. She will be a great asset to the UN and a partner to all of us, I am sure,” said a senior Asian diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A senior Gulf diplomat, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said Thomas-Greenfield’s appointment was a “strong and welcome signal of the incoming administration’s commitment to the UN and multilateralism.”
“Active US leadership is particularly important now as the world faces a variety of transnational challenges such as COVID, economic crises and climate change,” the diplomat said.
