Washington [US], January 22: U.S. President Donald Trump "sees great promise in the United Nations if it focuses on its founding mission of international peace and security," his nominee to be ambassador told the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday.
Elise Stefanik, a member of the House of Representatives, is expected to be confirmed by the Senate as ambassador to the 193-member world body, a position that will be part of Trump's cabinet for his second term in office, which began on Monday.
"If confirmed, I will work to ensure that our mission to the United Nations serves the interests of the American people and represents President Trump's America First peace-through-strength foreign policy," she said.
Stefanik took a traditional U.S. approach to the U.N. role, pledging to seek reform of the world body and its agencies and combat what Washington describes as anti-Israel bias and growing Chinese influence within the United Nations and globally.
"This is a long-term strategy that they have at the United Nations, and we need to have strong American leadership working with our allies to push back on this," she said of China.
The Senate committee's questioning of Stefanik came after Trump ordered a 90-day pause in foreign development assistance pending assessments of efficiencies and consistency with his foreign policy. The move raised questions because the U.S. Congress sets the federal government budget.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Cooperation
