Outfoxed and Outgunned: How China Routed the U.S. [State Department] in a U.N. Agency

[riversedge]

Several stories over the last few years have been posted here about the gutting of the State Department.
This story below is the sad outcome of that problem.



Outfoxed and Outgunned: How China Routed the U.S. in a U.N. Agency


https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/23/china-united-states-fao-kevin-moley/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/10/23/china-united-states-fao-kevin-moley/?utm_source=pocket-newtab



The race for the top job at an obscure U.N. agency tested great-power influence on the world stage—and Beijing coasted into a victory over Washington.
By Colum Lynch, Robbie Gramer


In mid-January, Kevin Moley, the senior State Department official responsible for overseeing U.S. relations with the United Nations and other international organizations, issued a stern command to a gathering of visiting U.S. diplomats in Washington: China was on the rise, and America’s diplomatic corps needed to do everything in its power to thwart Beijing’s ambitions.

China’s bid to place one of its own top officials at the head of the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which helps direct agricultural and food security policies worldwide, offered an early test, Moley noted. The election was still some five months away. But Moley, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs, made clear that defeating China would become a key U.S. foreign-policy goal.

“It was all China, China, China,” recalled a source familiar with the exchange. “‘We have to do anything to beat the Chinese,’” the source recalled Moley as saying.

Five months later, the race ended in a stinging defeat for the United States. Beijing’s candidate, Qu Dongyu, the vice minister of agriculture and rural affairs, overwhelmingly won the June 23 election with 108 out of 191 votes from the organization’s 194 member countries. U.S. diplomats initially anticipated their favored candidate, a former Georgian agriculture minister, receiving at least 60 votes. He ended up getting 12.


The win marked an international triumph for China, showcasing its growing political and economic might and its newfound ability to seed top jobs at international institutions with hand-picked candidates. But the race also fueled allegations that it forgave tens of millions of dollars of debt to an African state in exchange for withdrawing its candidate from the race and threatened economic retaliation against smaller and more developing countries if they opposed China’s plan.

The story, drawing on interviews from nearly two dozen officials and experts, also exposed the confused and clumsy state of diplomacy in the Trump administration. Critics charge that the president and his top diplomats are ceding influence in international organizations while at the same time trying to keep China from assuming greater control of them.

Throughout the process of the FAO election, Washington ignored repeated warning signs about its own strategy, clashed with some of its closest allies, and ultimately paved the way for China to coast into a diplomatic win that could elevate its signature foreign-policy ambitions in the developing world...............................

[Mike 03]

1. A quite fascinating article.

It demonstrates US ineptitude under Trump, but also is interesting from a strategic standpoint.

From the article:

The months that followed, officials said, showcased clumsy diplomacy within the U.S. government, as well as infighting among Western allies over which candidate to back. The European Union rallied behind Geslain-Lanéelle, who won 71 votes but was unable to draw support from the United States, which expressed reservations about France’s approach to food security and stances on issues such as genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, in agriculture.

From the start, there was a deep divide within the Trump administration, with many working-level staffers in the State Department and the National Security Council favoring the French candidate. “There was not a unity of effort in the U.S. government, which significantly damaged [Kirvalidze’s] chances,” one source said. The tug of war over which candidate to back in this election reflected broader tensions between the United States and Europe under the Trump administration.

The strategy, recalled one U.S. official, was “bonkers.”That left it to Georgia, a country of just 4 million people, to wage a campaign against two major powerhouses, China and France, whose candidate enjoyed the full backing of the European Union. The campaign was overseen by Georgia’s U.N. ambassador in New York. But European diplomats said other Georgian officials were largely absent in Rome, leaving a team of American advisors outside the U.S. government to manage a campaign that promoted a greater role for the private sector in the FAO’s work.

According to one source directly involved in the race, Georgia faced “dirty politics from Paris and Brussels” in an attempt to get it to relinquish its candidacy and back the French candidate.

[riversedge]

3. Thanks. And very readable--but indepth.

[KPN]

2. Worth noting. Another "yuge" failure of this

massively incompetent (and criminally corrupt as well as morally bankrupt) presidency.