TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The US Senate confirmed former senator and business executive David Perdue as ambassador to China on Tuesday.
Perdue, who served one term as a Republican senator from Georgia from 2015-2021, was confirmed 67-29, per Reuters. Before politics, Perdue spent 40 years working as a business executive and lived in Hong Kong.
Perdue faced backlash over his history of offshoring US jobs to China and other Asian countries with lower labor costs. His actions were criticized as harming domestic manufacturing and American workers, notably at odds with Trump’s “America First” policies.
In September, Perdue wrote a feature in the Washington Examiner arguing that countries should decide whether they will protect Taiwan. He said, “Our ‘strategic ambiguity’ policy needs to be addressed with allies and clarified.”
Strategic ambiguity is the US policy of refraining from clarifying its intentions about Taiwan’s defense to avoid risking new tensions with China.
In addition, Perdue has stated that it would be unacceptable if Taiwan follows Hong Kong, where China rules under the “one country, two systems” framework. He also called China “the most serious existential threat America has faced since 1789.”
In 2018, Perdue led a group of US senators to Taiwan and met former President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). Tsai praised the senator as Taiwan-friendly, according to the Presidential Office.
During the 2020 US presidential election, Perdue pushed Trump’s false claims of election fraud. He lost in the Senate race to Democrat Jon Ossoff four years ago. He was also defeated in a 2022 primary against Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp.
