The US being billions of dollars behind on its UN commitments is not only diminishing Washington’s influence in the world organization but also creating a challenge that China is exploiting, the US ambassador to UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, has warned while addressing the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday.
Despite the global food security being the principal topic she testified on along with USAID administrator Samantha Power before the committee on Wednesday and most of the questions dealing with the halted grain exports from Russia and Ukraine due to the conflict, the issue of the US debt was brought up by the Democratic Senator Chris Murphy halfway through the hearing.
Responding to Murphy, Thomas-Greenfield pointed out that due to the large debt, the American delegation has been put in a position of having to compete with the US adversaries on being able to influence the UN actions
While the Unite States’ delegation has resisted public reminders and attempts at shaming over the issue of having such a large debt, she noted in reality there’s an opening created for China that is the crux of the challenge she’s facing in New York every single day.
Thomas-Greenfield stressed that the US is not able to fund posts for about 400 young professionals at the UN, as Beijing did, so every gap Washington leaves open is filled by the Chinese.
With regard to the grain issue, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was told that according to the UN Secretary-General, negotiations with Moscow will end the Black Sea blockade of around 20 million tons of Ukraine grain in the global marketplace.
Though she noted she remains hopeful about the outcome since the UN is looking at other ways at getting the wheat out of Ukraine, Thomas-Greenfield mostly blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the blockade, and the shortages of grain and fertilizer on the global market, insisting it had nothing to do with the US embargo against Moscow.
Be the first to comment