Washington DC : David Perdue was sworn in as the US Ambassador to China by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday (local time). Perdue, a 'hawkish' former Senator from 2015 to 2021, took a tough stance on China. "I want the world to know I know this man personally. He loves this country, and I am glad to be your man in China," he said during his swearing-in ceremony.
"David Perdue has been officially sworn in by Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the Oval Office to serve as the US Ambassador to the People's Republic of China," White House said in a post on X.
Trump asked Perdue to convey his salutations to Chinese President Xi Jinping when he goes there. "This is a very extraordinary man and you're going to do a fantastic job. Say hello to President Xi when you're over there please," he said. Trump expressed his hope, saying that Perdue would be 'fantastic' at his job, and will stop the flow of Chinese Fentanyl to the US, adding that approximately 3,00,000 people lost their lives to the drug last year.
"I know he'll do a fantastic job as our lead diplomat in Beijing. David will work to promote American interests and stability in the Indo-Pacific, help stop the flood of Chinese Fentanyl across our borders. We lost I believe 3,00,000 people last year," he said.
"I picked him a long time ago but it just happened to come due on a pretty important date. But our friend David Perdue... Our new ambassador brings to this position a lifetime of experience at the highest levels of business and politics and he is at the highest level over four decades in business," Trump said.
Trump talked about Perdue's credentials, adding that he lived in Singapore and Hong Kong, securing business deals. "He rose to lead several major American corporations including as the President and CEO of the footwear giant Reebok where he did very well job and later CEO of Dollar General, likewise he did a great job. David also lived and worked in Singapore and Hong Kong for several years developing a wealth of experience- negotiating and doing tremendous business deals for lots of different leaders that he worked with," he said.
After his business venture, Perdue served as the senator in Georgia in 2014. "Following his tremendous business success as an executive, David stepped forward to serve the American government. As we all know, in 2014, he was elected United States Senate in Georgia and he was very popular, very respected from day one. He served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and was a tremendous partner to our administration during my first term," he said.
"I dealt with him a lot and he solved a lot of problems. Now I'm entrusting David to help manage one of America's most complex and consequential foreign relationships," he said. Trump added that Perdue in his capacity would seek reciprocity for American workers and will also ensure safety of Americans abroad.
"Seek fairness and reciprocity for the American worker, ensured the safety of our citizens overseas and promote peace in the region and in the world. I'm confident that he will do an exceptional job. He's an exceptional man and will make our country very proud and make our country very safe too. So David I want to congratulate you," he said.