Us Secretary of State Rubio: The United States will not "quit the group" on the world stage

Us Secretary of State Rubio insisted that the United States has not withdrawn from the world stage and defended the cuts in foreign aid and diplomatic budgets.

Reuters reported that Rubio appeared for the first time as secretary of state at a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Tuesday (May 20), engaging in fierce confrontational battles with his former colleagues. Some senators accused him of not daring to disobey President Trump's orders and said they regretted voting in favor of his nomination.

The doubts Rubio faces include: his role in the Trump administration's fight against immigration; Trump's contacts with Russian President Putin and his decision to give priority to accommodating white South Africans rather than refugees from other regions.

Rubio said that the purpose of the reforms he oversaw "is not to dismantle the foreign policy of the United States, nor is it to make us withdraw from the world stage", and also listed his overseas visits since taking office.

I visited 18 countries within 18 weeks. This doesn't sound like "quitting the group".

The Trump administration refused to take in most non-white refugees from other parts of the world, but has begun to resettle Afrikaners, claiming that they have suffered discrimination and even genocide. So far, nearly 60 Afrikaners have arrived in the United States after being granted asylum. The South African government denies the accusation of genocide.

The Afrikaners are descendants of white immigrants from South Africa and Namibia, with the majority being descendants of Dutch settlers in South Africa.

Democratic Senator: Regrets voting for Secretary of State Rubio's nomination

Maryland Democratic Senator Hollen strongly criticized Rubio for suddenly changing the issues he advocated when he was a senator and expressed regret for voting in favor of his nomination as Secretary of State.

Hollen said, "On the one hand, you ignored the genocide in Sudan; on the other hand, you fabricated the genocide in South Africa. You joined forces with President Trump to put the Ukrainian people in danger and were manipulated by Putin."

Rubio retorted, "You must regret voting for me who performed well!"

The hearing then turned into a fierce quarrel, which is quite rare for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which has long been known for its bipartisan cooperation.

When it comes to Russia, Rubio said that the US efforts to start negotiations to end the Russia-Ukraine war have not made any concessions to Putin, and the sanctions against Russia remain unchanged.

At the second hearing, several Republican senators expressed their support for foreign aid and other forms of the United States' soft power.

Republican Senator Graham, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said, "In my view, this is another form of national security." You who don't understand this point have missed a lot.

But Rubio insisted that many of the projects he cut were not in the interests of the United States and refuted the claim that China was filling the gap left by the United States' aid cuts.

He said, "A mature foreign policy requires a balance of interests. Our human rights agenda differs in some regions of the world from others." This doesn't mean that we give up completely.

He pointed out that some projects were "completely reasonable" good projects, while others were completely meaningless.

Rubio said that the United States still provides a large amount of foreign aid around the world, "more than the total of the 10 countries behind the United States", and far more than China. He also said that China does not provide humanitarian aid but conducts "predatory loans" in foreign countries.

Rubio also mentioned that the US government has proposed the establishment of a new $2.9 billion "America Priority Opportunity Fund", which will undertake foreign aid and "draw on the experience we have learned from the United States Agency for International Development".