Ricketts Questions U.N. Ambassador Nominee Stefanik on Ways to Combat Communist China, Drive Reform at United Nations
January 21, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Pete Ricketts (R-NE), a senior member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, questioned U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik (R-NY-21), President Trump’s nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. Ricketts emphasized the need to demand reforms and transparency from U.N. organizations and end the abuse of U.S. taxpayer dollars.
“Winston Churchill said that ‘the U.N. was set up not to get us to heaven, but only to save us from hell,’”Ricketts said. “And we’ve talked about the corruption that’s going on there. The mismanagement, the rot, and so forth. And you’ve mentioned already this concept that we have to have reform there. That’s going to be very important.”
Ricketts asked Stefanik about how the United States could combat Communist China’s growing influence at the United Nations, including by recruiting more patriotic Americans to work at the U.N.
“We need to have a strategy,” Stefanik said. “And this came up in virtually every conversation with senators from both sides of the aisle. And it needs to be a long-term strategy, working closely with our allies and our partners, both at the most junior levels and at the more senior levels within the U.N. We need to make sure that we’re running candidates, either American or allied nations, in the elections process for key leadership posts within the U.N. system.”
I think that’s going to be a key thing for us to be able to reach out and find new ways to be able to recruit people in,” Ricketts closed. “Because, if we don’t have our people in the U.N., we’re just leaving it open to Communist China to be able to do what they’re doing. And this is one of the ways they’re trying to displace us as the world power, as XI Jinping has laid out very clearly that he wants to do.”
Ricketts’ comments came in a hearing of the Committee on Foreign Relations.
TRANSCRIPT:
Senator Ricketts: “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Congresswoman Stefanik, welcome to the committee.
“And thank you very much for stopping by my office so we could have a chance to talk before this committee.
“And I really appreciate your service to our country and look forward to the strong credentials you bring to the table to be our U.N. ambassador.
“Winston Churchill said that ‘the U.N. was set up not to get us to heaven, but only to save us from hell.’
“And we’ve talked about the corruption that’s going on there. The mismanagement, the rot, and so forth.
“And you’ve mentioned already this concept that we have to have reform there. That’s going to be very important.
“And we’ve also talked about how much American taxpayers put into the U.N. $18 billion a year.
“And to put that in perspective, in 2022, that was more than 185 other member nations combined.
“Chairman Risch mentioned what the percentages of, 22% of their overall budget, most recently, and so forth.
“So, we invest a lot there. We’ve talked about these reforms. Do you believe that we can leverage the money that we’re putting into the U.N. to drive the reform?
“So, for example, can we say to the U.N., hey, we’re going to put money into these programs if, for example, they establish some of the transparency you were talking about. And if you don’t do that, we’re pulling our money out.
“Is that one of the ways that we can drive reforms?”
Rep. Stefanik: “Absolutely. And I believe we have to.
“We owe that to American taxpayers to ensure that all of our dollars and investment represent our values and answer the key questions of does it make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous.
“So that is really important to me as an elected official currently.
“I understand we have to be good stewards of U.S. taxpayer dollars.
“So, I think that is a key tool for us to demand greater reforms and transparency.”
Senator Ricketts: “Great. One of the other things that we’ve also talked about as well is how Communist China has used the U.N. to push its interests.
“And the Chairman laid out some of the problems with what Communist China is doing.
“What can we do to be able to get more U.S. leadership into these different committees, to kind of combat that?”
Rep. Stefanik: “We need to have a strategy. And this came up in virtually every conversation with senators from both sides of the aisle.
“And it needs to be a long-term strategy, working closely with our allies and our partners, both at the most junior levels and at the more senior levels within the U.N.
“We need to make sure that we’re running candidates, either American or allied nations, in the elections process for key leadership posts within the U.N. system.
“We need to pay particular attention, I believe, to the technical organizations, whether it’s telecommunications, whether it’s civil aviation.
“And another way is we need to ensure Taiwan has maximum meaningful participation in international organizations.
“I also believe it’s important to ensure that the language, because we have seen China trying to insert their specific language, which is counter to our values, we need to have very strong Mandarin expertise and really keep a close eye on that as well, in all the documents and statements coming out of the U.N. system writ large.”
Senator Ricketts: “So do you have specific plans to be able to start recruiting more Americans or allied nations people into the U.N. to be able to do it?
“And I’m going to kind of add on to that. Because if you go back to, I think between 2009 and 2021, Communist China has increased its employment of its nationals in the U.N. by 85%.
“So, it’s not just about leadership of different agencies, but it’s also about how many people just work there in the U.N. that, of course, we’d be naive to think that they’re not driving Communist China’s agenda through the U.N, whatever role they have.
“So, can you talk a little about the strategy for getting more people in leadership, but also how do we recruit more Americans or other allied people just to do the work of the regular U.N.?”
Rep. Stefanik: “I think we have to have a mission to recruit at the most junior levels to work their way up into the system.
“I also think we need to have a strategy, working with Secretary Rubio, to ensure that we have the highest caliber, which we do, of course, in terms of those that are serving at the U.S. U.N. mission, and also provide that expertise of challenges within the INDOPACOMM region.
“I think that is very important. And I intend to also have opportunities to partner with, whether it’s higher education institutions, whether it’s private sector, whether it’s opportunities in each of your states or each of House members’ districts, for ideas that we can help address this long-term personnel challenge.”
Senator Ricketts: “Yeah, I think that’s going to be a key thing for us to be able to reach out and find new ways to be able to recruit people in. Because if we don’t have our people in the U.N., we’re just leaving it open to Communist China to be able to do what they’re doing.
“And this is one of the ways they’re trying to displace us as the world power, as XI Jinping has laid out very clearly that he wants to do.
“So, I look forward to potentially another round of questioning.
“So, thank you, Mr. Chairman, very much.”