Please be respectful of the nominee you guys. Aside from being one of the only people interested in the job, the nominee has strong ideas and goals and will be an active presence. If you think making a big deal out of minor misunderstandings is truly what's best for the game, by all means go right ahead.
I'm sure the President can rest absolutely assured that I intended and intend to treat the nominee respectfully. Asking questions related to the nominee's responses is hardly out of line in a confirmation hearing.
I have worked in the field extensively prior to being elected to the office.
Just as a clarification, the SoS is not an elected office – unless you're referring to the Lincoln Council or some RL position related to your prior experience, in which latter case I would greatly appreciate further information on which areas you worked in.
With regards to your question regarding our policy towards the Asia pacific region, I will work to maintain our existing alliances and will not give into pressure from the PRC to reduce our support of Taiwan or any other ally in the region. We should be proud to support the Hong Kong refugees, there will be no attempts to use them as a diplomatic bargaining chip under my tenure. It is both morally wrong and detrimental to the interestes of atlasia to cast away our credibility by throwing the interest of our allies under the bus to appese a regime incensed at polices that have little real impact on them.
This seems broadly in line with a number of recent congressional bills which some Atlasians have criticized as being too hawkish and inflammatory. What would you do as SoS to assuage the concerns of people like S019 who believe your Asia Pacific philosophy
"risks aggravating (an evidently already upset) China"?
I will take a hard stance with the PRC but will explain that we do not wish to cause any civil war and try to defuse their paronia that recognition of Taiwan is an attack on their terrotorial soverignty. I will be open to cooperation on all the matters you listed with the PRC but will not throw our allies under the bus to active them and attempt to ensure that these agreements while fair include guarantees of improved human rights in the PRC itself.
On that note, what are your main priorities in which to pursue further cooperation with the PRC, and how do you believe they can be enforced given its past patterns of not living up to its promises to other nations?
With regards to the ongoing Taiwan blackouts we will provide what technical support we can to ensure their electrical grid will be restored to previous perfomance and secured from similar issues in the future.
Given that these reports have been tied to news of mock bombing runs against the ROC, what is your assessment of the risk to Taiwanese citizens and Atlasian companies and workers if we make such attempts to secure their electrical grid, and how would you manage the PRC's response to such actions?