Aldona Wos, President Donald Trump's pick to head up the US diplomatic mission in Canada, said during her confirmation hearing on Thursday that building bilateral cooperation to counter China will be one of her priorities on the post
TORONTO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd July, 2020) Aldona Wos, President Donald Trump's pick to head up the US diplomatic mission in Canada, said during her confirmation hearing on Thursday that building bilateral cooperation to counter China will be one of her priorities on the post.
"If I am confirmed, one of my priorities will be to build on our existing bilateral cooperation with Canada to join in countering China's malign activities and continuing to raise concern regarding authorization of Huawei's and other untrusted vendors' access to 5G networks," Wos said.
Wos said if she is confirmed as the next US ambassador to Canada, she will express the United States' disapproval and concern with the continued detention of two Canadians - former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor - on espionage charges in China.
Sino-Canadian relations have deteriorated in recent years as Ottawa has been caught in the middle of an escalating trade dispute between the United States and China. The Trump administration has repeatedly urged Canada to abandon plans to include Chinese tech giant Huawei in the development of its 5G network.
Senior US officials have repeatedly warned the so-called Five Eyes intelligence sharing allies - Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom - that including Huawei in 5G development projects could put these arrangements in jeopardy. Canada is the last Five Eyes country to not rule out Huawei involvement.
The situation has been exacerbated by Canada detaining Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou in 2018 at the request of the United States, which was followed by the arrests of two Canadian nationals. Meng is wanted by the US authorities for her alleged role in violating sanctions against Iran.
Wos served as US ambassador to Estonia during in the George W. Bush administration and a two-year tenure as the North Carolina Secretary of Health and Human Services.
The position in Ottawa has been vacant since August when then Ambassador Kelly Craft was confirmed as US Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
Wos' appointment as US ambassador to Canada is pending confirmation by the US Senate.
