Voice of America
27 Jan 2021, 06:05 GMT+10
The U.S. Senate confirmed Antony Blinken to be the country's top diplomat Tuesday, paving the way for the Biden administration's eventual reversal of the Trump administration's isolationist policies.
Blinken was confirmed by a 72-22 vote to serve as the country's 71st secretary of state, filling the most senior Cabinet position and one that is fourth in the line of presidential succession.
At a confirmation hearing last week, Blinken said he is ready to confront the challenges posed by China, Iran, Russia and North Korea.
He said China "poses the most significant challenge" to U.S. national interests, while noting there is room for cooperation.
"There are rising adversarial aspects of the relationship; certainly, competitive ones, and still some cooperative ones, when it is in our mutual interests," he said.
Nominated Secretary of State Antony Blinken participates as US President Joe Biden speaks during a cabinet announcement event in Wilmington, Delaware, on Nov. 24, 2020.
Conservative lawmakers' opposition to Blinken centered on concerns that he may help the new administration reenter the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and that he would halt former President Donald Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign against the Middle Eastern power.
He also pledged to rebuild State Department morale and the diplomatic corps. Blinken said he sees U.S. standing abroad as leadership based on "humility and confidence."
The 58-year-old was deputy secretary of state during the Obama administration and has close ties with President Joe Biden. He was staff director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee when Biden was chair of the panel, and later was then-Vice President Biden's national security adviser.
The Foreign Relations Committee approved Blinken's nomination by a vote of 15-3, sending the matter to the full Senate for final approval.
Get a daily dose of Poland Sun news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Poland Sun.
More InformationWASHINGTON, DC: In order to reduce the United States' reliance on the imports of advanced batteries, pharmaceuticals, critical minerals and ...
TRENTON, NJ - New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law a bill to legalize the recreational use of marijuana ...
The number of healthcare workers contracting the COVID virus has dropped sharply in Ireland since the start of administering vaccines.Fewer ...
DUBLIN, Ireland - A leading immunologist has said Ireland should seek to vaccinate its entire population by the end of ...
WASHINGTON, DC - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered immediate inspections of all Boeing 777-200 planes using Pratt ...
BRUSSELS, Belgium - In a largely symbolic move, foreign ministers of the European Union agreed this week to sanction four ...
WASHINGTON, DC - The White House press secretary has told reporters it is not certain whether the United States will ...
NEW YORK, New York - Experts are searching for an answer as to what caused the flu to virtually disappear ...
A triad of intersecting world-wide pandemics simultaneously threatening humanity today are the end results of its own insatiable greedy human ...
LOS ANGELES, California: California has now recorded over 50,000 deaths from COVID-19, representing more than ten percent of the total ...
AUSTIN, Texas: Texas lawmakers have begun hearings into the causes of the enormous power outages that plagued Texas residents at ...
WASHINGTON DC: - Career foreign service diplomat Linda Thomas-Greenfield was approved to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations this ...