Jeanne Shaheen Asks Pentagon Official If China Is Trying To 'Take Over' Gap Left By USAID Shuttering

4/4/2025

During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Thursday, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) spoke about China's influence across Africa amid the shuttering of USAID.

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Transcript

00:00Thank You Mr. Chairman and thank you to General Cavoli and General Langley for

00:04being here this morning and for your many years of service to the country. I

00:08want to follow up on Senator Reid's question about USAID's presence in

00:13Africa or lack thereof now that this administration has closed down virtually

00:19all of the operations in Africa. This is the fastest growing continent in the

00:25world. It is a place where we're seeing increasing incursion by the Chinese as

00:31you pointed out. So as we have withdrawn our presence from countries in Africa, are

00:40you seeing additional Chinese presence come in to take over some of those

00:45services and programs that the United States has been providing? For example, in

00:51Rwanda we had a program to help with women and children and the

01:00challenges of childbirth. My understanding is that now that we have

01:03left that program that the Chinese have come in to take it over. Are you seeing

01:08that in places? Sir, I am seeing that. You know, there's a number of programs that

01:16we see that that the Chinese Communist Party is trying to replicate. They can't

01:22do what we do. They can't do what we do in PEPFAR where they extended the

01:27lifespan of a number of Africans by 20 years. They're trying to replicate that.

01:32They're trying to match what we do. So that's what we're seeing as we start to

01:38fold in the capabilities of USAID under State Department. They're trying to,

01:43China is trying to exploit that scene. And do you agree that it would be a huge

01:48loss if we don't continue many of those programs? Senator, I won't speak to the

01:56policy part of that, but it is a need. Those capabilities are needed for the

02:02U.S. to maintain a strategic advantage over Chinese Communist Party because we

02:07do it best and the Africans, they speak, they speak that they do prefer the

02:12United States. Thank you. General Cavalli, I want to follow up on Senator

02:17Fisher's question about the role of the SACEUR in NATO and in Europe and the

02:24importance of that role in terms of nuclear weapon command and control. What,

02:30and partly because what we're hearing is rumors from the administration that

02:34they're thinking about eliminating that dual hat responsibility. How, I'm not

02:41going to ask you to comment on the policy point there, but how concerned

02:45would you be about the lack of control of nuclear weapons, especially should

02:51Article 5 be invoked? We would want those under the command of a U.S. officer,

02:57ma'am, clearly. And Senator Reid and Senator Wicker both talked, asked you a

03:05number of questions about Ukraine and where the war is now and you were very

03:09forthcoming about that. As we look at potential negotiations on trying to end

03:16that war, what is the best leverage that we can have with Putin and Russia in

03:24terms of positioning Ukraine to be able to come to a negotiating table with a

03:32position of strength? Senator, I'd hate to try to insert myself into the

03:38negotiation process, which I'm, which I'm not a part of, but I do think. Right, I'm

03:42really asking for your military. So continuing to assist Ukraine on the

03:47battlefield daily, I think is very important. Continuing to enlist not just

03:52the material assistance, but the unity of our allies in this effort to support

03:56Ukraine, I think is also an important function to be done. I'll leave it to to

04:01the administration to determine how to, how to achieve leverage against the

04:05other side. Thank you. And this, we talked briefly on the way in about the

04:10situation in the Western Balkans and particularly in Serbia and in Bosnia

04:16Herzegovina. While Mr. Dodik has left the Republic of

04:24Srpska for the time being and is in Russia, can you speak to the ability of

04:29the U-4 mission there to be able to take over should there be any outbreak of

04:34violence? And then also, if you could address KFOR and Kosovo and Serbia as

04:40well. Sure, Senator. So with regard to Bosnia, yeah, good and bad that Mr. Dodik

04:46has left the scene for a little bit. We're working through that day by day.

04:50As you know, the Operation Alfea, the EU mission, the operational, the one step

04:57above commander of that is, for the EU, is my vice chief of staff, a French

05:03three-star named Hubert Cotereau. So we talk about, his office is about 10 feet

05:08from mine, we talk about this every single week. We feel comfortable at the

05:13level of forces they have available now. I'm grateful to France especially for

05:17responding quickly with unpreviously committed forces to help. Last summer

05:22they sent the Charles de Gaulle and two parachute battalions to show force in

05:27the area. So I think we're in a pretty good place there. I think Hubert and the

05:32EU know the various ways things could spiral up there and we can handle

05:38that. From the US EUCOM side, I do meter in and out training forces, our forces to

05:44train, who, while not operational, certainly have a stabilizing effect as

05:48they go in and out. Kosovo, as you know, KFOR remains on the ground. 4,300

05:53soldiers on the ground right now of whom less than 600 are American. That is a

05:59place where our Italian and allies have really been carrying a lot of the weight.

06:04We have had reserve forces deployed in there to handle the elevated tensions

06:08for about a year now. We're expanding the size of the permanent force in order to

06:14relieve those forces, those reserve forces, and I believe we'll come to

06:19agreement on that very quickly and get that source. The key nations really

06:22involved there are Italy, Turkey, the United Kingdom and Hungary who have been

06:27extremely responsive with their reserve forces.

06:29Thank you, thank you very much.

06:31Thank you, ma'am.

Jeanne Shaheen Asks Pentagon Official If China Is Trying To 'Take Over' Gap Left By USAID Shuttering

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