A majority of the US Senate on Thursday backed the confirmation of Nicholas Burns to be ambassador to China, positioning the veteran diplomat for a central role in the increasingly fractious relations between the two global rivals.
The Senate voted 75 to 18 to confirm Burns, a former ambassador to NATO who served as under secretary of state between 2005 and 2008.
The choice of Burns, who has served under both Democratic and Republican administrations, marked a shift for the role of ambassador to Beijing, a position which recently has been filled by former politicians, not seasoned diplomats.
It was not immediately clear when Burns would head for China, or whether it would be before the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing in February.
The White House announced on December 7 that government officials would boycott the games over China’s human rights “atrocities”.
Burns, who was nominated in August, went through several delays in his nomination process.
He is professor of the practice of diplomacy and international relations at the Harvard Kennedy School.
As under secretary of state for political affairs, the third-ranking US foreign affairs official, Burns led negotiations on the US–India Civil Nuclear Agreement. He was also the lead US negotiator on Iran’s nuclear programme.
Burns previously served as ambassador to Greece and worked in the Jerusalem consulate-general as well as in embassies in Egypt and Mauritania.
- Reuters, with George Russell
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