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

by Eric Olander
Linda Thomas-Greenfield appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on her nomination to be the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, on January 27, 2021. Greg Nash / POOL / AFP

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:

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