President Biden will nominate former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel to serve as ambassador to Japan and R. Nicholas Burns to serve as ambassador to China, the White House announced Friday.
Emanuel previously worked as White House chief of staff under President Barack Obama and served in the House of Representatives from 2003 to 2009. Burns is a professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He has served as ambassador to NATO and to Greece and worked at the State Department as undersecretary of state for political affairs.
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For months, Emanuel and Burns had been reported to land the top diplomatic posts, but the White House did not make the selections public until late Friday afternoon on a week dominated by the chaotic evacuation of Afghanistan. Emanuel has already faced strong pushback from liberal Democrats who criticized his tenure as mayor, specifically how he handled the shooting death of Laquan McDonald, a Black teenager, by a White police officer.
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If confirmed, Emanuel would head to Tokyo at a time when Biden has worked to strengthen relations with Japan amid growing tensions with China. Biden hosted Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga for the first visit from a foreign leader in April, and Japan just hosted the Summer Olympics, which were significantly scaled back due to coronavirus concerns.
“The alliance between the United States and Japan is the cornerstone of peace and prosperity in a free and open Indo-Pacific, and I would proudly represent our nation with one of our most critical global allies in one of the most critical geopolitical regions,” Emanuel said in a statement. “Our Ambassadors to Japan have a long history of distinguished public service from both parties and I am humbled to follow so many statesmen who have served in this role.”
Burns served presidents of both parties in top positions at the State Department, including during the Iraq War launched under President George W. Bush, when the State Department pushed diplomats to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan in the kind of nation-building efforts Biden now eschews.
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A specialist in European politics, Burns had less direct experience with China during his government service but has focused on it as an academic at Harvard. Burns’s contacts among allies is expected to be put to use, as Biden seeks agreement among NATO and other allies to confront China more forcefully.
The White House also announced Biden intends to nominate Michael Battle to serve as ambassador to Tanzania. All three positions are subject to Senate confirmation.