Rahm Emanuel

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    Scott Morrison tells US Australia risks going to sleep on China threat after diplomatic ‘charm and flattery’

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    The Chinese Communist party hopes Western democracies “go to sleep on the threat” it poses to the international order, former prime minister Scott Morrison has told a congressional committee in the US.In a forthright appearance before the hawkish US House of Representatives select committee on the strategic competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist party, Morrison said China had changed diplomatic tack after he lost the 2022 election to Anthony Albanese.“This included abandoning their economic and diplomatic bullying and coercion for more inductive engagement, laced with charm and flattery,” Morrison said. “That said, the PRC still continues to engage in intimidatory behaviour by their military against Australia when it suits them without remorse.”Morrison said while China’s diplomatic tactics had changed, its objectives were unaltered: to isolate US influence in the Indo-Pacific and weaken efforts at countering Beijing’s “potential security threat”.He said Australia should boost its defence spending to the 3.5% of GDP demanded of it by the US, arguing “the world has changed” and that Chinese leaders sought to “recast the world order to accommodate their illiberal objectives”.Morrison accused the current Labor government of scrimping on defence spending in order to pay for the Aukus submarine deal, which will cost $358bn to the 2050s.Morrison later told reporters Australian defence spending parsimony – in particular the “displacement” of funds to prioritise Aukus – had been raised by the US in its review of the agreement.Sign up: AU Breaking News email“It wasn’t [meant to be] ‘Aukus instead’, it was ‘Aukus as well’,” he said. “And ‘Aukus as well’ was at least going to add another half a percent of GDP, at least.”Morrison said Australia should raise its defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030 and 3.5% by 2035. The government spends a little over 2% of GDP on defence currently, with forecasts to lift that to 2.3% by 2033. To prioritise Aukus, significant cuts have reportedly been made to defence programs, training budgets and to senior defence ranks.Australia has already paid $1.6bn to the US as part of the Aukus agreement. However, the future of the massive nuclear submarine deal remains uncertain as the Pentagon undertakes a review to ensure it does not weaken US naval capacity or diminish America’s force posture to contain China.Morrison, whose leadership between 2018 and 2022 endured a low in relations with Beijing, told the committee it was vital for western nations to resist Chinese attempts to interfere in politics and curb free speech.Citing polling of Australians by the Lowy Institute, the former prime minister told US lawmakers that “for the first time in quite a number of years there is a greater value on the economic partnership with China than concerns about the security threat”.“That is an objective of the CCP [Chinese communist party], that western democracies go to sleep on the threat,” Morrison said.“You need to build the internal resilience, and that means an appreciation of the potential threat. And that is somewhat in jeopardy in Australia.”Morrison said the liberal world order faced a “rising threat from authoritarian states who, not content with absolute control over their own populations to preserve their regimes, also seek hegemonic control over their own regions and to recast the world order to accommodate their illiberal objectives”.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotion“The Chinese Communist party government of the People’s Republic of China is such a regime.”And Morrison said Western countries were “kidding themselves” if they thought dialogue would change Beijing’s pursuit of their objectives.“A free and open Indo-Pacific – that is a threat and a challenge to regime security in China,” he said.“Discussion is fine, engagement is good – it’s better than the alternative. But if we think that is going to produce change in the mindset of Beijing then we’re frankly kidding ourselves.”Appearing alongside Morrison before the committee hearing was Rahm Emanuel, formerly president Barack Obama’s chief of staff, mayor of Chicago and US ambassador to Japan. Emanuel is widely considered to be a leading Democratic contender contemplating a run for the White House in 2028.He argued the US – in a significant shift from the Trump administration’s “America First” doctrine – should lead a strong “anti-coercion coalition” along with allies like Australia to counter Beijing’s growing influence.He cited China’s trade sanctions on beef, wine and barley, imposed after Australia led calls for an inquiry into the origins of Covid-19, as examples of economic coercion, China’s most “pernicious and persistent tool”.“Australia is the best kind of blueprint of what you want to replicate worldwide. They did it on their own,” Emanuel said. “And China realised they couldn’t isolate Australia.” More

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      Rahm Emanuel leads confirmed Biden nominees in late-night logjam break

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      Rahm Emanuel leads confirmed Biden nominees in late-night logjam breakEx-Obama chief of staff will go to Japan after deal for vote on Russia pipeline sanctions ends Republican Senate resistance The former Obama White House chief of staff and Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel was among more than 30 ambassadors and other Biden nominees confirmed by the Senate early on Saturday. Trump condemned by Anti-Defamation League chief for antisemitic tropesRead moreThe Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, broke a Republican-stoked logjam by agreeing to schedule a vote on sanctions on the company behind the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that will deliver natural gas from Russia to Germany.With many senators anxious to go home for the holidays, Schumer threatened to keep the Senate in for as long as it took to break a logjam on a number of diplomatic and national security nominees.Emanuel was confirmed to serve as ambassador to Japan by a vote of 48-21. Nominees to be ambassadors to Spain, Vietnam and Somalia were among those confirmed by voice vote after an agreement was reached to vote on Nord Stream 2 sanctions before 14 January.The confirmation process has proved to be frustrating for new administrations regardless of party. While gridlock isn’t new, the struggle is getting worse.Democrats have voiced concerns about holds Republican senators placed on nominees in order to raise objections about foreign policy matters that had little to do with the nominees in question. Holds do not block confirmation but they do require the Senate to undertake hours of debate.Positions requiring confirmation can go unfilled for months even when the nominations are approved in committee with the support of both parties.Biden officials acknowledge the president will end his year with significantly more vacancies than recent predecessors and that the slowdown of ambassadorial and other national security picks has had an impact on relations overseas.Ted Cruz, of Texas, held up dozens of nominees at state and treasury, over objections to the waiving of sanctions targeting the Nord Stream AG firm overseeing the pipeline project. The administration said it opposed the project but viewed it is a fait accompli. It also said trying to stop it would harm relations with Germany.Critics on the both sides of the aisle have raised concerns that the pipeline will threaten European energy security by increasing reliance on Russian gas and allowing Russia to exert political pressure on vulnerable nations, particularly Ukraine.Earlier in the week, Schumer demanded that Cruz lift all of his holds on nominees at the two departments as well as the US Agency for International Development, as part of any agreement on a Nord Stream 2 sanctions. Cruz said he was willing to lift holds on 16. The two sides traded offers on Friday.“I think there ought to be a reasonable middle ground solution,” Cruz said.“Let’s face it. There is little to celebrate when it comes to nominations in the Senate,“ said Senator Bob Menendez, chairman of the foreign relations committee.The New Jersey Democrat blamed Republicans for “straining the system to the breaking point” and depriving Biden of a full national security team, “leaving our nation weakened”.“Something’s going to happen in one of these places and we will not be there to ultimately have someone to promote our interests and to protect ourselves,” he said.Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, said some of the gridlock stemmed back to four years ago when Democrats, under Schumer, tried to stop many of Donald Trump’s nominees being confirmed in a timely manner.“Senator Schumer doesn’t have anything close to clean hands here,” Blunt said.Emanuel, also a former member of the House, was backed for the post in Tokyo at a time when Washington is looking to Asian allies to help push back against China.Detractors said they would not back him because of the shooting when he was mayor of Chicago of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, who died when a police officer, Jason Van Dyke, fired multiple times.Emanuel’s handling of the case was criticized, especially as video was not released for more than a year. Van Dyke was convicted of second-degree murder and jailed. Four officers were fired.Biden nominated Emanuel in August. At his confirmation hearing in October, Emanuel said he thought about McDonald every day and that, as mayor, he was responsible and accountable.Eight Republicans voted with a majority of Democrats to confirm Emanuel. Three Democrats voted no: Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Jeff Merkley of Oregon.TopicsBiden administrationUS foreign policyUS national securityRahm EmanuelUS politicsAsia PacificJapannewsReuse this content More

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      Biden picks ex-Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel as US ambassador to Japan

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      Joe Biden has picked the former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel to be his ambassador to Japan.The selection ends months of speculation over whether Barack Obama’s first chief of staff, a former congressman and longtime Democratic operative, would be nominated to an administration role.In the first days of the Biden presidency Emanuel, 61, was mentioned as a possible secretary of transportation. Biden ended up picking Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who ran strongly in the Democratic presidential primary.Some progressives view Emanuel as a major antagonist within the party. He is often criticized among liberals, for example, for his handling of a shooting of an African American teenager during his time in Chicago.Emanuel served two terms as mayor but opted not to run a third time, in the face of a potentially brutal campaign.His selection as ambassador was first reported by the Financial Times. The Guardian confirmed it on Tuesday.The selection, which will be officially announced later this month, is one of a number of appointments Biden plans to make in full ambassadorial roles. There has been grumbling among Democratic donors that the president has not followed in a longstanding tradition of appointing major donors to plush diplomatic posts.Biden has reportedly eyed major American political figures for diplomatic jobs. In April, for example, Axios reported that he plans to pick Cindy McCain, the wife of the late Republican senator and presidential nominee John McCain, to be ambassador to the United Nations World Food Programme.Biden reportedly plans to nominate Ken Salazar, a former cabinet secretary and senator from Colorado, as ambassador to Mexico. More

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      Talk of Rahm Emanuel in Biden cabinet outrages his Chicago critics

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      Of all the names bouncing around as prospects yet to be tapped for the incoming Biden-Harris administration, there’s one triggering intense emotion, especially in his home town.News that Rahm Emanuel is being considered for transportation secretary or another position in Joe Biden’s cabinet or senior team has sparked outrage among Chicagoans who believe his controversial tenure as mayor of that city should disqualify him from a return to the highest echelons of Washington.Emanuel is a Chicago native with a track record as an Illinois congressman before serving as Barack Obama’s chief of staff then two terms as Chicago mayor.But he’s a divisive figure who long ago upset liberals, most prominently in Washington, by discouraging Obama from pursuing what became his signature legislative achievement – healthcare reform via the Affordable Care Act – and then in myriad ways as mayor of Chicago from 2011 to 2019.He’s been endorsed by key moderate figures such as the Illinois senator and Democratic whip Dick Durbin, ex-transportation secretary and former Illinois Republican congressman Ray LaHood, current congressman Mike Quigley and Chicago South Side alderman Michelle Harris, who described him as “the perfect candidate” for the transportation job.But prominent progressives in Chicago and elsewhere are livid that Biden would even give his name an airing, accusing Emanuel of exacerbating the city’s entrenched, acute inequalities and, most dramatically, botching the handling of Black teenager Laquan McDonald’s killing by a white police officer in 2014.Rahm Emanuel “covered up the murder of a young Black man in Chicago in order to advance his political career”, city alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa said of his potential appointment.Dashcam footage of 17-year-old McDonald being gunned down by officer Jason Van Dyke, who was convicted in 2018 of the murder, was suppressed for more than a year before a judge ordered it released. Emanuel’s role in that delay ignited weeks of local and national protests and calls for his resignation. It left an indelible stain and he didn’t run for a third term.Eva Maria Lewis, a Chicago artist and organizer as well as the founder of the Free Root Operation, a non-profit fighting poverty-induced gun violence, said that a post for Emanuel in the Biden-Harris administration would mean “people don’t care” what Black Americans have to say.“You can’t argue against the information, the evidence is all there – 16 shots and a cover-up, everyone knows what that means. He was essentially ousted. People were not going to go for him being in office after the Laquan McDonald cover-up,” she said.In the aftermath of the scandal, Emanuel opposed a federal investigation into the Chicago police department and failed to cultivate a community oversight board for the police, as had been promised.Elsewhere, the New York congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and congressman-elect Jamaal Bowman spoke out along similar lines, as did Missouri congresswoman-elect Cori Bush.What is so hard to understand about this?Rahm Emanuel helped cover up the murder of Laquan McDonald. Covering up a murder is disqualifying for public leadership.This is not about the “visibility” of a post. It is shameful and concerning that he is even being considered. https://t.co/P28C0E4fYP— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 23, 2020
      Liberal critics in Chicago are opposed on additional grounds.Ramirez-Rosa pointed to the infamous closing of 50 Chicago public schools under Emanuel. He added: “He passed policies that balanced the city of Chicago on the backs of working people. I think he’s shown that he is not fit to serve in Biden’s cabinet and really do what needs to be done to undo the harm that was caused by President Trump.”And he accused Emanuel of focusing on wielding power “on behalf of the interests to billionaires”, including ultra-wealthy Republicans.Emanuel divested from Chicago’s public education after mandating millions in budget cuts as well as 1,400 layoffs, leading to a dire reduction of school nurses, librarians, social workers, and others. In 2012, Chicago teachers went on strike for the first time in almost 25 years.The school closures, the most at any one time, were concentrated in majority-black, poorer neighborhoods and disrupted many families’ lives.“Children had to cross gang territory to get an education. Schools were overcrowded. People were forced to attend dilapidated schools. The budget was not equitably distributed – closing the schools was avoidable,” said Lewis.Notoriously, Emanuel closed half of Chicago’s public mental health clinics with most of them concentrated on the South Side. The closings resulted in wide disparities in access to mental health treatment, with 0.17 licensed mental health clinicians for every 1,000 South Side residents versus 4.45 for every 1,000 residents on the city’s wealthier North Side. The closing led to a convoluted transition process, with hundreds of unaccounted for patients and overburdened neighboring community mental health providers.Then there is his style, typical descriptions ranging from tough and effective to abrasive and bullying and, obviously, his reputation on transportation, which is glaringly inconsistent.“If you didn’t agree on an issue, he was extremely confrontational. I often had one-way confrontations with him where I would ask him questions that should’ve been asked on different issues – such as the ‘Elon Musk tunnel’,” said Scott Waguespack, alderman of Chicago’s 32nd ward.He added: “Even asking questions about that was met with pushback from him. He didn’t like anyone questioning his projects like that. That’s what people have to expect.”Emanuel touted a project with Tesla’s Musk to built a high-speed underground transportation system to link downtown to Chicago O’Hare airport, which ultimately failed.“It was all imagery he put up, that in the long run really had no substance to it,” said Waguespack.The mayor also created the Chicago Infrastructure Trust, claiming to have secured $1bn worth of private investment and pledging to create 30,000 jobs over three years. The promises didn’t come to fruition and the current mayor, Lori Lightfoot, has since dissolved the trust.Overall, Emanuel has a mixed legacy on an ambitious transportation vision for Chicago, credited with expanding walking paths and biking lanes in some neighborhoods, making essential upgrades to Chicago’s public transportation and improvements at O’Hare – but a drive towards sustainability and greater equality in services was missing.The Guardian contacted Emanuel for comment but did not receive a response.And there is another constituency whose opposition to a great “Return of Rahm” should give Biden pause – trade unions, including in transportation, whose support was a crucial source of votes in Biden’s win last month.The Transport Workers Union of America (TWU) called the prospect a betrayal and Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, called Emanuel a union buster.Again, no. DOT is effectively the labor department for aviation – 80% union. It plays a major role in transportation trade too. We do not need a union buster setting the rules for workers in aviation. That just doesn’t reflect @JoeBiden’s deep commitment to workers & our unions. https://t.co/IjEvqwxbKK— Sara Nelson (@FlyingWithSara) November 30, 2020
      Emanuel had a hostile relationship with representatives of teachers and other city employees.“We didn’t work our asses off to have Rahm Emanuel as the secretary of transportation … he’s anti-trade union, he’s anti-worker,” John Samuelsen, international president of TWU, told the Intercept.Chicago alderman Ramirez-Rosa concluded that any elevation of Emanuel would be a sign that a Biden administration meant “more of the same” political culture in Washington that has eroded public faith.He said it would signal that “if you have lobbyists, big donors, or billionaires backing you up, they will be able to put you in that cabinet so you can carry water for them”. More