Washington, D.C. – During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the nomination of U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY) to be the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, U.S. Senator John Curtis (R-UT) highlighted efforts to counter China’s influence in international organizations, particularly regarding Taiwan’s status and participation in the United Nations (UN). Curtis further raised concerns about prioritizing funding for certain UN agencies, referencing legislation he introduced while serving in the House that would require the State Department to rank agencies by importance to U.S. interests. Stefanik reaffirmed her commitment to Taiwan’s participation and representation in global organizations and agreed on the need to prioritize funding for agencies that best serve U.S. interests.
A transcript of the exchange between Senator Curtis and Representative Stefanik can be found below and video can be found here.
Senator John Curtis: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member. It’s great to be here. Representative Stefanik, I enjoy calling you that, at least for now. I feel like I have a little bit of advantage over so many having served with you in the House and bringing nothing but good comments about your service there and favorable impressions of your work there. Also enjoyed serving with you on the first China task force. And I appreciate your work in protecting Taiwan and protecting Israel.
And, to talk just a little bit about Taiwan first and China first, UN resolution 2758 shifted recognition of “China” at the UN from Republic of China to the People’s Republic of China, but didn’t really address Taiwan and their status and their sovereignty. China has been since working to reinterpret the resolution to reassert sovereignty over Taiwan and particularly in international organizations.
One example of this that kind of jumps out is the International Civil Aviation Organization. They’ve implied Taiwan is part of China in a press release. And this was most noticeably evident during a viral World Health Organization interview at the height of COVID-19, when a Hong Kong journalist asked about Taiwan’s pandemic response. The official avoided the question about Taiwan, stating, “We’ve already talked about China and all parts of China,” implying Taiwan was part of China.
I think the American taxpayers, I think you and I would agree on this, should not be subsidizing the salaries of people who undermine America’s allies. So, can we talk specifically about how we counter China’s influence in the UN, specifically ensuring that Taiwan gets fair treatment as it comes to China? And there’s a lot of organizations, world organizations that Taiwan can belong to. And would love to just hear your thoughts on them.
Representative Elise Stefanik: Yes. Thank you so much. It’s great to see you on this side of the Capitol now, Senator Curtis. It was a real privilege to serve with you for many years in the House. You and I have worked extensively on this issue, both setting up the China task force, which led to the bipartisan Select China Committee.
As I mentioned in some of the previous questions, I am committed to making sure that Taiwan has the most maximum meaningful participation within the UN system, as it should in all international organizations. We have to be vigilant, both in the long term and the short term to make sure that China is not able to make significant inroads with the CCP in international organizations.
I also want to point out that I have a record on this issue legislatively. Over the past decade, I have voted consistently in support of defensive aid to Taiwan. I believe deeply in deterrence to avoid war in the Indo-Pacific. And you can look at, you know, whether it was the last major vote we took on that defensive aid package, I voted in support of it.
Curtis: I would love to help you in those efforts. I think it’s very important for the U.S. and for our taxpayers. I sponsored a bill over in the House that would actually require the State Department to rank the agencies in the UN by order of importance. And you can see on one hand, we have the Security Council, where it’s important for us to have a veto vote, and then UNRWA. And yet the State Department insists that these are all equal and all important in the U.S. interest.
I understand the President plans to defund some of these. Can you give me a sense from your perspective how you begin to, with your team [and] limited resources, figure out which of these agencies are actually important in the best interest of the United States and which ones we need to address?
Stefanik: Thank you. We want to do a full assessment of all the UN sub-agencies and making sure that every dollar goes to support our American interests. As the U.S. Ambassador, I believe that is my responsibility to stand up and support the American people and President Trump’s “America First” peace through strength. In terms of our assessment before, as this confirmation process, for example, the UN Security Council is in a different position than UNRWA, which I think should be at the bottom of the list.
And I have voted to defund UNRWA and we’ve discussed that extensively today, but I am interested in that bill. And in seeing the outcome of that bill, I would like to see a ranking. And we want to do that assessment. Working with Secretary Rubio and working with President Trump and the National Security Council to make sure that the programs we’re funding represent our values.
Curtis: Sometimes back home you hear the calls to defund the United Nations. And it’s more nuanced than that. And so, to the extent that we can better clarify which of these agencies are helpful and in the U.S. interests and which are not, I think would be terrific.
Stefanik: And I think connecting it to the American people directly. For example, take the World Food Program, connecting that to our American farmers. I have a very agricultural district that’s important to make that connectivity to the American people who are very interested in where their taxpayer dollars are going, as they should be.
Curtis: Thank you very much. I yield my time.