CAROLINE KENNEDY FRONTS US SENATE. OFFERING GLIMPSE OF ISSUES SHE WILL DEAL WITH AS US...
0Caroline Kennedy fronts US Senate. offering glimpse of issues she will deal with as US ambassador to Australia
Caroline Kennedy has fronted the Senate as she wends her way through the confirmation process that all United States ambassadors have to navigate before getting on a plane. The former US ambassador to Japan — and daughter of former US president John F Kennedy — appears set to become a high profile appointment to the ambassador to Australia role. Most observers predict she will be waved relatively quickly through the Senate confirmation process. allowing her to fly to Canberra within the next few months. But the hearings have given foreign policy watchers and officials their first chance to see her speak at length about what her top priorities would be as ambassador and give her views on the mounting list of geopolitical challenges both the US and Australia are grappling with. Here's what she said on some of the big issues. ranging from China and AUKUS. to climate change and brewing strategic competition in the Pacific. China Unsurprisingly. US senators at the hearing were keen to press Ms Kennedy on her attitude to China. and to the fraught ties between Canberra and Beijing. Senator Chris Murphy. a Democrat. pointed to China's trade strikes on Australia. as well as criticism state media has heaped on the Australian government. including a Global Times piece describing Australia as 'chewing gum stuck on the soul of China's shoes'. Former Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney struck a similar tone. asking Ms Kennedy if she agreed China was acting in 'a malevolent and predatory way that presents a real threat to our interests here and around the world'. Ms Kennedy used much more measured language in her answers. But she praised Australia's response to China's trade punishments. saying the US could 'learn a lot from their response'. 'They've stood firm and I think they've managed to come together with a bipartisan foreign policy. and I think a greater and deeper partnership with us in the security and diplomatic areas — as well as across the board — will serve their country and our country well.' she said. In fact. Ms Kennedy came back to that theme of bipartisanship and unity more than once in the hearing. saying later that the Australian people had 'come together in understanding the challenges posed by China'. She gestured towards the relatively modest impact of China's trade strikes. saying Australia was 'fortunate' that it had rich endowments of resources (Beijing has continued to buy Australian iron ore at sky high prices because it still needs it) and that most of the goods blocked had been 'able to find markets' elsewhere. She also vowed to back Canberra in its stand off with China. saying 'pushing back on China's economic coercion is something that United States is going to have to support our allies [on]'. But she did not offer any specific details about what form that 'push back' would take. or lay out what concrete steps the Biden administration might be willing to take to deter China. AUKUS The signature defence technology agreement between the United States. the United Kingdom and Australia will undoubtably eat up a huge amount of Ms Kennedy's time after she lands in Canberra. Australia's push to develop nuclear powered submarines will strain every sinew the federal bureaucracy has as the federal government develops the regulatory framework. infrastructure. workforce and technical expertise needed to build. run and maintain them. Read more Ms Kennedy did not dwell on the agreement at length during the hearing. but she hailed AUKUS as a landmark pact of real consequence. She was also keen to stress that AUKUS was much more than just a nuclear submarines agreement. She highlighted the dizzying array of working groups that had sprung up to help all three countries coordinate on a wide range of sophisticated military technologies. 'I think that there is a lot of deterrence that it will deliver well before the submarines are in operation.' she told the hearing. Climate...
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