Rick Scott Asks State Nom: ‘What Pressure Can We Put On China’ To Negotiate On Nuclear Weapons?

Forbes Breaking News

During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing before the congressional recess, Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) questioned State Department Nominee Thomas DiNanno about nuclear weapons negotiations with China.

Transcript

00:00Sure. Thank you, Chairman. Well first of all, congratulations to each of you. You

00:05have great opportunities to have a big positive influence on what happens in

00:09the United States around the world and I'm sure you'll do a great job. Ms. Rogers,

00:13as we as we know, we clearly have governments in the world that have

00:18chosen to be our enemies. You know, Russia, China, Iran and others, North Korea. So do

00:24you do you think that our historically that our public diplomacy has has

00:29reflected the attitude of governments that want to destroy our way of life?

00:34Thank you for that question, Senator. I had an earlier exchange with ranking

00:39member Shaheen on the Global Engagement Center and I think one thing that was

00:42striking is some of the information that the Global Engagement Center suppressed

00:46according to court records was information that China would have wanted us to

00:50suppress. So at the behest of the Global Engagement Center and other organs of the

00:54government, we had American companies pressured to censor American speech

00:58broadcast to American audiences on American domestic issues like COVID

01:03lockdowns and the 2020 election and speech was censored regarding whether the

01:09COVID virus originated in a lab in Wuhan. So the idea that we need to censor

01:14American speech to counter disinformation from China just doesn't stand up to

01:19scrutiny because if we look at how these censorship efforts operated we were

01:22doing China a favor and so if I'm confirmed everything my office does it'll

01:27happen in the light of day if we see foreign propaganda from China or Iran we'll

01:31call it out and we'll say it we'll we'll tag it for what it is and honestly if we

01:36look at the Russian disinformation the purported Russian disinformation that was

01:40identified as a result of the Mueller investigation this is not formidable

01:44content this was a hundred thousand dollars worth of Instagram ads that we very

01:48clearly could have mocked derided or dismissed and so I think a more

01:53transparent approach to countering disinformation would better serve the

01:57American interest and it would pose a greater threat to our adversaries than

02:01simply censoring Americans who say things that are inconvenient. Thank you. Mr.

02:06Donato, so tell me what what pressure can we put on China to come to the table with

02:12regard to to nuclear weapons. Thank you for the question senator as I referenced in

02:20the in the chairman's earlier question as diplomats we have we have fewer options

02:24than say our partners in the in the military certainly when comes to diplomacy

02:31China has an obligation under the NPT to negotiate arms control reduction in good

02:37faith per NPT article 6. I have a hard time sitting before you today grant I'm

02:43not in the government I'm a nominee in any way shape or form having personally

02:48witnessed the the stiff arming by the Chinese and saying that there any how

02:53they could be in not in violation of article 6 of the NPT so that's a

02:58diplomatic lever we need to use it and again a reference into my testimony and if

03:02confirmed I'll look into the details of it but that's a face value pretty obvious to me.

03:07and how would you do that I mean what what pressure where did where they get

03:12the pressure for that well sir the NPT requires it and what's the enforcement

03:19there's no enforcement mechanism per se again as a reference to my opening

03:24statement some of the issues we have with arms control agreements there there is

03:29no enforcement per se there's no punishment for the Chinese but if we're

03:33going to be part of the NPT if we're going to be use a be part of the

03:37multilateral lateral framework we need to show up and use it and that would be my

03:43intention I did in the private prior administration being a part of treaties

03:48that are not enforceable or verifiable or where other partners cheat I have a

03:53record we've withdrew from the INF treaty because the Russians were cheating and I

03:59spoke earlier about the implications of that we withdrew from the open skies

04:03treaty because the Russians were cheating we were not so we should not be

04:06part of these agreements where that are one-sided to speak specifically about

04:13what we can do diplomacy and deterrence work hand-in-hand and exquisite US

04:21military hardware the military's moved aggressively I think the last four years

04:26since I left the government it's been surprising to me and I'm encouraged that

04:30some actually INF range capabilities are now coming online the army prism system

04:36the hypersonic system some conventional prompt strike platforms in critical

04:42partners and allies in the region are critical to deterring China

04:48Mr. Kerr what you've got a lot of background you've got a significant background in

04:52government how's this gonna impact your ability to do your job what do you what

04:56do you bring to the table what do you feel you want to get accomplished thank

05:01you senator for that question well I if confirmed it would be a great honor to

05:05return to public service as you as you noted I spent more than 20 years serving the

05:13American people in both the State Department and in the White House and it

05:17would be a great honor to return to that if confirmed I look forward to

05:21supporting the president supporting the secretary as as they best see fit I

05:27serve at their pleasure as I said my opening statement my background has been

05:33in Asia but I this is a global position and I'm very eager for that challenge and

05:39look forward to again serving the president serving the secretary and

05:42ensuring that I'm the American people are well served as well thank you thank you

05:47chairman thank you senator Scott thank you for asking that question to miss

05:50miss Harker I've had

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