President Joe Biden’s Asia czar, Kurt Campbell, is the leading candidate to be nominated as the next deputy secretary of State, according to people familiar with the matter.
(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden’s Asia czar, Kurt Campbell, is the leading candidate to be nominated as the next deputy secretary of State, according to people familiar with the matter.
If nominated and confirmed by the Senate, Campbell, who’s currently the White House Indo-Pacific coordinator, would become the No. 2 US diplomat, reporting to Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He would replace Wendy Sherman, who retired. Victoria Nuland has been serving as acting deputy secretary since late July.
Axios first reported the likely nomination. A White House spokesperson declined to comment.
Campbell, known as a long-term advocate for a broader US role in Asia, has been a prominent part of the Biden administration’s Asia policies, including the launching of a trilateral partnership, known as Aukus, that would share nuclear submarine technology with Australia and the Indo-Pacific “Quad” grouping, which brings together the US, Japan, India and Australia.
He has served in Asia policy roles during Democratic administrations over the last three decades. During the Obama administration he served as assistant secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, where he became known as a key architect of the US “pivot” to Asia.
(Updates with Campbell’s background. An earlier version corrected the rendering of Aukus, in the third paragraph.)
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