Nicholas Burns
Scott Mlyn | CNBC
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden announced on Friday his intention to appoint career diplomat and former U.S. ambassador to NATO Nicholas Burns as his ambassador to China.
The president also announced that former two-term mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel, will be appointed ambassador to Japan.
Both announcements were highly anticipated, and once they are formally nominated, the Senate is expected to confirm both Burns and Emanuel.
Burns is one of the most experienced and well-regarded diplomats in the United States, having served both Republicans and Democrats for more than 25 years. He was ambassador to Greece in the Clinton administration, ambassador to NATO in the George W. Bush administration and undersecretary of state for political affairs from 2005 to 2008.
While the Biden administration makes economic and geopolitical competition with China the cornerstone of its broader foreign policy, Burns, as ambassador, would be the spearhead.
He would probably be accused of the dual task of executing policies that are deeply unpopular with his Chinese guests, while maintaining a cordial working relationship.
The White House has said it intends to maintain a relationship with Beijing that reflects some of Washington’s strategy toward the Kremlin.
Although Russia and the United States are adversaries on almost all fronts, senior diplomats from both countries maintain dedicated areas of cooperation on issues in which it is in their mutual interest to cooperate, such as nuclear weapons control.
This type of model could be applied to US-China relations, with cooperation on issues such as North Korea and climate change.
Unlike Burns, Emanuel is not a career diplomat, nor is he an expert in Japan.
Former White House Chief of Staff then-President Barack Obama and former Illinois Congressman, Emanuel maintains close ties with several of Biden’s most important White House figures, including the current White House Chief of Staff. Ron Klain.
However, within the broader Democratic Party, Emanuel is a polarizing figure.
A centrist on issues such as immigration and health care, Emanuel has inspired the wrath of progressives in Congress since the early days of the Obama administration.
But it was his time as mayor of Chicago that caused almost any possibility that Emanuel would have to join the Biden administration.
As mayor, Emanuel was harshly criticized for refusing to release images from the police control camera for more than a year after the shooting of Laquan McDonald, a black teenager who was shot 16 times by a police officer who claimed McDonald had “thrown” him at him.
Images from that shooting showed that, in fact, McDonald had been pulled away from the police officer when the officer shot him. McDonald collapsed on the first shot, but the agent did not stop; he fired another 15 shots at McDonald while the teen was on the ground.
Emanuel claimed he had never seen the video, which clearly showed that the Chicago Police Department’s version of events was a lie.
Emails later revealed that Emanuel’s closest aide-de-camp soon knew the police story did not match the images.
Emmanuel’s appointment as Biden’s ambassador to Japan is a blow to the progressives, who campaigned against him.
But, as with any ambassador, Emanuel’s personal friendship with Biden and other high-ranking White House officials is what matters most to the Japanese government.
In this sense, Tokyo is no different from any other foreign capital: an American ambassador is as good as the time it takes to call the president.