Senate backs China critic David Perdue as ambassador to Beijing

The US Senate has confirmed that former Georgia Senator David Perdue will become ambassador to China, a key post amid the Trump administration’s escalating trade tensions with Beijing.

Perdue, who was nominated by Trump during the transition period in December, once was labelled as “anti-China” by a Chinese think tank while serving in Congress.

The 75-year-old former businessman is one of several China “hawks” currently serving in the administration.

The Senate vote on Tuesday fell 67-29 in his favour, with four senators not voting.

When he announced his choice last year, Trump said that Perdue would be “instrumental” in maintaining peace and a “productive working relationship” with China.

US-China relations, however, have been strained by the Trump administration’s impositions of tariffs on China, which for some products go as high as 145%.

Despite repeated assurances from US officials that talks on the tariffs are ongoing, China has continued to deny that any negotiations have taken place.

“Let me make it clear one more time that China and the U.S. are not engaged in any consultation or negotiation on tariffs,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a news conference earlier this week.

Perdue has long been critical of China, and has at times advocated for a stronger US Navy, partly as a result of Chinese efforts to increase its military strength in the Pacific.

During a confirmation hearing earlier this month, Perdue said that the US must take a “nuanced, non-partisan and strategic” view towards China.

In an essay last year, however, Perdue called Chinese President Xi Jinping a “modern-day emperor” and accused the country of seeking to “destroy capitalism and democracy”.

His predecessor as ambassador, Nicholas Burns, was a career diplomat who spent decades in the State Department.

Perdue, for his part, spent most of his career in business, with stints at firms including Dollar General and Reebok. He first entered politics with a successful Senate run in 2014.

Perdue lost his seat to Democrat Jon Ossoff in 2020, before trying unsuccessfully to unseat fellow Republican Brian Kemp in 2022, for governor.

During his failed gubernatorial bid, Perdue repeated Donald Trump’s false claims of electoral fraud in the 2020 election.

Trump – as well as China’s government – have so far not commented on Perdue’s confirmation by the Senate.