By Patricia Zengerle, Simon Lewis and Doina Chiacu
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican U.S. Senator Marco Rubio promised a robust foreign policy focused on American interests at his nomination hearing on Wednesday for secretary of state under President-elect Donald Trump who takes office on Jan. 20.
A China hawk and staunch backer of Israel, the 53-year-old Rubio is expected to comfortably win confirmation by the full Senate. Democrats backed him as soon as Trump announced his nomination to become the top U.S. diplomat, a sharp contrast with some more controversial nominees who drew skepticism even from Trump’s own party.
Rubio addressed major foreign policy issues in a friendly hearing before a committee where he has served for 14 years. He had harsh words for China and said an end to the war in Ukraine was essential with both sides making concessions.
In his opening statement to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he has served for 14 years, Rubio said he sees a world in chaos where it will not be easy to restore order.
“It will be impossible without a strong and a confident America that engages in the world, putting our core national interests once again above all else,” Rubio said.
The son of immigrants from Cuba, Rubio would be the first person of Hispanic origin serving as the top U.S. diplomat.
Rubio’s remarks were briefly interrupted by a handful of protesters. One spoke in Spanish and mentioned Latin American countries that the U.S. has hit with sanctions, including Nicaragua, Venezuela and Cuba. “I get bilingual protesters,” Rubio joked.
“You’ve earned yourself one of the hardest jobs in America. But after serving with you for so many years, I’m confident you are the right person. We need to take on these threats,”
said Senator Jim Risch, the committee’s Republican chairman.
“I believe you have the skills and are well qualified to serve as Secretary of State,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the top foreign relations Democrat, said.
Rubio is one of Congress’ leading advocates for strong policies to compete with China. His support for Hong Kong democracy protesters earned him Chinese sanctions in 2020, meaning he could be the first secretary of state under active Chinese travel restrictions.
At the hearing, Rubio said Washington must step up its efforts to compete with Beijing and slammed its government on human rights.
“If we don’t change course, we are going to live in the world where much of what matters to us on a daily basis from our security to our health will be dependent on whether the Chinese allow us to have it or not,” Rubio said.
Some other Trump nominees have faced strong criticism, with even some Republicans saying they wanted more information about former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, tapped for secretary of defense, and former Representative Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s choice for director of national intelligence.
VOTED AGAINST UKRAINE AID
Some of Trump’s core supporters had seen Rubio as out of step with Trump’s “America First” approach to government. Rubio was a Trump rival in the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
But his views recently have aligned more closely with the party leader’s.
Last year, Rubio was one of 15 Republican senators to vote against a big military aid package to help Ukraine resist Russia, after voting in favor of aid in 2022. Trump has been critical of Democratic President Joe Biden’s military assistance for Ukraine as it fights Russia.
Rubio told the committee it should be U.S. government policy that the war must end, and said reaching an agreement to stop the fighting would involve concessions from both Moscow and Kyiv, suggesting that Ukraine would have to give up its goal of regaining all the territory Moscow has taken in the last decade.
“I think it’s important that the Ukrainians have leverage, but they also will have to make concessions to reach this agreement,” Rubio said.
Trump’s choice of a vehement critic of Cuba’s Communist government to be top diplomat also signaled that he will continue his first-term policies of rolling back former Democratic President Barack Obama’s efforts to ease relations with the island.
Rubio, who has strongly backed Israel, denounced the International Criminal Court for issuing an arrest warrant for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s conduct in its war with Palestinian militant group Hamas, and warned that the court could at some point try to prosecute U.S. leaders.
“How can any nation state on the planet coexist side by side with a group of savages like Hamas?” he said in defense of Israel’s assault on Gaza. “They have to defend their national security and their national interest.”
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Don Durfee, Deepa Babington and Alistair Bell)
