Biden's State Department pick reaches out for GOP allies as he promises policy shifts

Blinken made especially clear in his Tuesday confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that if confirmed, he aims to reengage with Congress in a bipartisan fashion, an implicit criticism of his predecessor's combative relationship with some lawmakers.

Blinken offered praise for some GOP lawmakers, agreed with their assessments of Iran, Taiwan and Beijing's obfuscation about the Covid-19 pandemic and endorsed President Donald Trump's belief that the US needs to take a tough line on China.

"I also believe that President Trump was right in taking a tougher approach to China. I disagree, very much, with the way that he went about it in a number of areas, but the basic principle was the right one, and I think that's actually helpful to our foreign policy," Blinken said.

Taking 'a hard look'

Lawmakers raised concerns about Iran, Taiwan, Cuba, Turkey, Russia, the Covid-19 pandemic and other issues in a hearing that some lawmakers attended virtually. Many of the questions touched on areas in which the Trump administration has taken a slew of significant 11th hour decisions -- policy steps that it did not have the political will to take until it was leaving and wouldn't have to bear the consequences, and steps that are widely seen as an effort to complicate matters for the incoming Biden team.

Blinken reiterated Biden's commitment to Taiwan but made clear the incoming administration would reexamine Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's last-minute move to loosen the rules governing how US officials engage with their Taiwanese counterparts.

"As you know, some regulations were promulgated by the outgoing secretary state we're going to take a hard look at those pursuant to the Taiwan Assurance Act, and we will, we will look at that," Blinken said. "But the commitment to Taiwan is something that we hold to very strongly."

Blinken threaded a similar needle on Cuba. Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio asked whether a Biden administration would keep in place a recent policy that forbids financial transactions with any Cuban business that has ties to a massive, military-controlled holding company. Rubio strongly supported Trump's move to undo the Obama administration's opening of relations with Cuba.

'Costs or consequences'

"In terms of the objectives that you cite, that makes very good sense to me," Blinken said. "I think the question is, and I don't know enough to, to form a full judgment as to whether it is in fact, achieving those objectives and are there any other costs or consequences that we might want to look at."

And asked about Trump's acting defense secretary suddenly announcing plans to drawdown forces in Afghanistan in November, Blinken said that "the President-elect wants to make sure that even as we pull back our forces that we retain the capacity to deal with any reemergence." He made clear that the Biden team hasn't been given much visibility on the agreement Pompeo and the Trump administration negotiated with the Taliban, which nevertheless has continued to wreak violence on Afghans.

The Biden team will "look closely at what's been negotiated there ... to understand fully what commitments were made and not made by the Taliban," Blinken said. He added, "I don't believe any agreement is sustainable without protecting gains by women and girls over the last 20 years."

Blinken is one of several national security nominees to appear before Senate confirmation hearings Tuesday the day before Biden's swearing in -- a signal of the new President's desire to ensure there are no national security gaps after the deadly insurrection at the Capitol by Donald Trump's supporters and amid ongoing concerns about extremist violence.

Lawmakers on both sides asked about the most concerning major external threats to the US, with several mentioning strong concern about Iran. Trump left the Iran nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama administration and instituted a maximum pressure campaign. As the President leaves office, Iran is closer to gaining a nuclear weapon than it was when he entered.

Blinken made clear the Biden administration feels the world was safer with the nuclear deal in place.

"President-elect Biden is committed to the proposition that Iran will not acquire a nuclear weapon," Blinken said. "And we share, I know, that goal across this committee, an Iran with a nuclear weapon or on the threshold of having one with the capacity to build one on short order would be in Iran that is even more dangerous than it already is."

"In my judgment, the JCPOA for whatever its limitations, was succeeding on its own terms in blocking Iran's pathways to producing fissile material for a nuclear weapon on short order," Blinken said.

China

China was another major focus of concern, with lawmakers raising its move to crush democracy in Hong Kong, engage in predatory lending, industrial espionage, and tout its authoritarian model of governance as a more stable alternative to democracy.

"As we look at China, there is no doubt that it poses the most significant challenge of any nation state to the United States, in terms of our interests the interest of the American people," Blinken said. "There are, as I see it, rising adversarial aspects to the relationship. Certainly, competitive ones, and still some cooperative ones, when it is in our mutual interest."

"I think, as we're thinking about how to deal with China, I think this is reflected in the work that the committee has done, we have to start by approaching China from a position of strength, not weakness," Blinken said, using the opportunity to gently point to contrasts with the Trump administration.

A Biden administration would start by "not denigrating our allies," Blinken said, "leading international institutions, not pulling back and ceding," standing up for human rights and democracy, and making "investments as necessary in our military."

Blinken outlined three priorities in his opening remarks -- the first being to breathe life into a State Department hollowed out after four years of the Trump administration and undermined by Trump's attack on American democracy.

'Confidence'

Blinken also emphasized the need to revitalize American diplomacy after international distrust and disgust engendered by Trump's policies. He also discussed Biden's desire to restore the administration's traditional foreign policy partnership with Congress, where lawmakers often complained of being shut out and ignored by Pompeo.

And where Pompeo stressed "swagger," Blinken told lawmakers that "humility and confidence should be the flip sides of America's leadership coin."

"Humility because we have a great deal of work to do at home to enhance our standing abroad," Blinken said in prepared remarks. "But we'll also act with confidence that America at its best still has a greater ability than any country on earth to mobilize others for the greater good."

Blinken highlighted transnational challenges that will require international partnerships, from defeating the Covid-19 pandemic to dealing with China; standing up for human rights; reaffirming the value and strength of democratic governance; countering threats from Iran, Russia and North Korea; and taking on "the existential threat posed by climate change."

The 58-year-old also struck a personal note in his remarks at the top of the hearing, introducing himself to the public and the committee, where he once worked for six years and senators know him well. The father of two described his pride in his family's history of service, saying he sees it as "payment on the debt our family owes to the nation that gave us refuge and extraordinary opportunities across generations."

Blinken's grandfather fled pogroms in Russia, his stepmother fled communists in Hungary, and his late stepfather survived the Holocaust. Blinken's father and uncle went on to serve as US ambassadors. "It is the honor of a lifetime to appear before this Committee" as Biden's nominee, Blinken will tell the senators.

He will have an enormous challenge before him. Pompeo has left Blinken a depleted and demoralized department, former and current diplomats say. They point to Pompeo's failure to defend the former ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovich, from attacks by President Donald Trump. And despite Pompeo's oft-repeated pledge that he had no higher priority than the safety of his people, many diplomats are angry about his State Department's failure to do more to help diplomats suffering from mysterious sonic attacks.

Trump administration policies have resulted in a North Korea that, four years later, is better equipped to strike North American shores with nuclear weapons. Iran is closer to producing a nuclear weapon, if it decides to make the sprint toward one. China has further solidified its influence in Asia, crushing Hong Kong's democracy and inking a trade agreement after Trump in 2017 tore up Obama administration plans to create a Trans-Pacific Partnership of its own.

This story has been updated with additional details Tuesday.