{"id":1917187,"date":"2023-04-20T11:26:08","date_gmt":"2023-04-20T15:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bill-proposes-to-establish-permanent-us-special-envoy-to-pacific-to-counter-ccp\/"},"modified":"2023-04-20T11:31:27","modified_gmt":"2023-04-20T15:31:27","slug":"bill-proposes-to-establish-permanent-us-special-envoy-to-pacific-to-counter-ccp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/bill-proposes-to-establish-permanent-us-special-envoy-to-pacific-to-counter-ccp\/","title":{"rendered":"Bill Proposes to Establish Permanent US Special Envoy to Pacific to Counter CCP"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fbill-proposes-to-establish-permanent-us-special-envoy-to-pacific-to-counter-ccp%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1917187&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"post_content\">\n<div class=\"aplayer_app\" data-source=\"https:\/\/vs1.youmaker.com\/assets\/2023\/0420\/45f7e8d3-f90b-4dde-ba40-269cd264a5c5\/audio.mp3?length=3463245&#038;duration=289\"><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) introduced new legislation on Thursday to\u00a0combat the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s (CCP) growing influence in the Pacific with a permanent U.S. special envoy to the region\u2019s leading policy forum.<\/p>\n<p>The bill (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kennedy.senate.gov\/public\/_cache\/files\/5\/5\/5586be0b-f9b0-405b-a3bf-1d60136a70bd\/B9EBBB1273BD86A1226098ED41336613.mdm23523.pdf\">pdf<\/a>), known as the \u201cU.S. and Pacific Islands Forum Partnership Act,\u201d proposes to establish a permanent special envoy to the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), a group of countries, including Australia, New Zealand, and some 18 Pacific Island nations in total.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy\u2019s office noted that Beijing sees the group of Pacific Island countries as strategically important to its ambitions to dominate the region, given the communist regime already has\u00a0a special envoy to the PIF. In February, the CCP appointed\u00a0Qian Bo, China\u2019s ambassador to Fiji since 2018, as its special envoy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCommunist China aims to broaden its sphere of influence across Southeast Asia, and\u00a0America\u2019s diplomacy in the Pacific has been a long-term challenge,\u201d Kennedy said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kennedy.senate.gov\/public\/press-releases?ID=264BFE8D-33AE-489F-AD16-23763328FD1D\">statement<\/a>. \u201cBeijing is putting more economic and diplomatic pressure on the Pacific Island states each day, and one of the clearest and easiest steps that Congress can take to counter this communist antagonism is to establish a special envoy to the Pacific Islands Forum.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3682702\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2021\/02\/03\/GettyImages-1027412540-1200x800.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-3682702\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> This picture taken shows flags from the Pacific Islands countries being displayed in Yaren on the last day of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) on Sept. 5, 2018. (Mike Leyral\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figure>\n<p>The Biden administration has previously noted that the United States has dropped the ball in the Pacific, which some analysts have said allowed the CCP to cultivate its influence and play an increasingly aggressive role. Beijing has been investing heavily in terms of foreign aid and other projects in the region in recent years through predatory programs like the Belt and Road Initiative.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy\u2019s office stated that a permanent, Senate-confirmed special envoy would help remedy this, strengthening growth and cooperation with these important Pacific Island countries.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaking the position Senate-confirmed would also elevate diplomacy in the region and ensure accountability to Congress,\u201d Kennedy\u2019s office stated.<\/p>\n<p>With a special envoy, the United States can build stronger relationships with these Pacific Island countries and counter Beijing\u2019s growing influence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis special envoy will help answer a diversity of threats from the communist regime by deepening trust and increasing dialogue on the Pacific Islands\u2019 economic, cyber security, and military concerns,\u201d Kennedy\u2019s office stated.<\/p>\n<h2>\u2018Inextricably Linked\u2019<\/h2>\n<p>The U.S. diplomatic envoy was announced last July 2022 when\u00a0Vice President Kamala Harris gave a rare non-member address to the Pacific Islands Forum in Fiji. Typically, nations outside the membership aren\u2019t invited to attend.<\/p>\n<p>Harris outlined a number of steps the United States would take a strengthen diplomatic relations. This would include, she said, dispatching the Peace Corps to the region, setting up embassies\u00a0in Kiribati and Tonga, looking at reestablishing a mission for providing humanitarian aid, and\u00a0appointing the first-ever U.S. envoy to PIF.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe history and the future of the Pacific Islands and the United States are inextricably linked. We have historic bonds going back generations,\u201d Harris said during her address.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_4597372\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/img.theepochtimes.com\/assets\/uploads\/2022\/07\/14\/GettyImages-1241865235.jpg\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-4597372\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript><\/figcaption><\/a> U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris speaks via video-link to the Pacific Islands Foru<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) introduced new legislation on Thursday to\u00a0combat the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s (CCP) growing influence in the Pacific with a permanent U.S. special envoy to the region\u2019s leading policy forum. The bill (pdf), known as the \u201cU.S. and Pacific Islands Forum Partnership Act,\u201d proposes to establish a permanent special envoy to the Pacific<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":618,"featured_media":1917188,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[7126,4405,17524,4674,18160,3644,5392,7262],"class_list":["post-1917187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times","tag-ccp","tag-counter","tag-envoy","tag-establish","tag-pacific","tag-permanent","tag-proposes","tag-special"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/618"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1917187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1917187\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1917188"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1917187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1917187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1917187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}