Confirmation Hearing: IBNU for Secretary of State (Confirmed)

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

I would like to thank the president for my nomination. I will endeavour to work hard and diligently,bringing my more than 20 years of experience working in foregin policy related fields to ensure that the nation remains an active international player in global affairs promoting human rights and balanced free trade whole also avoid excessive foregin entanglements.

1. Do you support the G20's recently approved plan to impose a global corporation tax? Will you apply international pressure on Ireland and Hungary to join in the agreement?

2. How will you approach Israel and Palestine? Will you support renewed peace efforts after Israel's election this month?

3. Would you support a trade or military pact with our Pacific allies, such as India, South Korea, and Japan, to counterbalance Chinese influence? In what other ways would you address rising PROC influence and human rights violations?

1. The nation will be a key player in pushing for this iniative.In our Mordern economy taxation of multi national corporations required international cooperation. It's unacceptable for any country to base its economy in helping these companies to avoid paying their fair share. The State department under me will exert every effort to convince these countries to cooperate through our long links and historic relationship.

2. The nation will continue to be an honest broker in the peace process and we hope that the new Israeli adminstration will be willing to remain at the negostion table. We will continue to urge a settlement freeze as well support any existing peace effort.the

3.
The nation will support any treaty or framework required to protect the free nations of the region from ongoing Chinese influence. We will take a leading role in setting up such organisations and will attempt to re-enter the Trans Pacific Trade Deal if certain benchmarks can be reached.

With all due respect, how can we be confident that you are up to the task given the number of votes you missed in the Lincoln Council?

Also, what is your foreign policy regarding Iran? What steps will you take to prevent them from obtaining nuclear weapons?

I apologize for tardiness during my time in the Lincon Council but I have extensive experience in International relations. With regards to Iran, the only solution to prevent them from getting nuclear weapons is diplomatic. We must come to an agreement combining sanction relief with strong checks to ensure that they remain unable to acquire nuclear weapons. I will work with global partners to apply diplomatic pressure until we can reach an agreement.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Could the nominee please elaborate on what areas of international relations their expertise lies in, and to what degree?

As a follow-up to Scott's question, what are your stances on the recent Taiwan rolling electrical blackout, the various actions Atlasia has taken to support Hong Kong refugees, and the PRC's threats of retaliation against Atlasia if we continue to show support for our allies in the region – all covered in recent updates from the Citizen's Dispatch if you need a reference – and what steps would you take in response to these ongoing situations?

On the flip side, do you agree or disagree with the stance that Atlasia needs to wind down its perceived confrontations with China (with the associated risks to our allies) in favor of pursuing cooperation on trade deals, environmental cooperation and the like, and why?

I want to reiterate too that these are all fairly important and ongoing questions that Devout Centrist regrettably did not publicly address all that consistently, and I would prefer that the next SoS is prepared to both tackle them with the President in private and justify their decisions to Congress and the citizens in public.

I have worked in the field extensively prior to being elected to the office.

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.


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.

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

Do you intend to interact consistently with GM stories regarding international relations?

I will proactively respond to events, and will monitor GM stories countionusly.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

Will you engage with the National Security Council and the Senate as Secretary of State?

...?

I will maintain engagement with all relevant parties including the senate and the national security council.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

What do you say to allegations that you were bribed with this position to change your vote?

I will address the allegations in question. I was a loyal member of the Democratic Alliance and had initially planned to vote for their candidate as any loyal partisan would. I was contacted by a labour campaginer who pointed out the numerous moral failings of the DA canidate, very recultantly I changed my vote.

I was then immediately messaged by the candidate in question who begged me to change my vote back and appealed to my sense of integrity and loyalty pointing out the numerous policy disagreements and my past disdain for the labour party. Feeling very uncertain about my vote, an idea formed at the back of my mind came to be, I would pretned that I had changed my vote because I was bribed and state it to him. If he refused that bribe and pointed out that it was highly illegal and morally wrong, I would at once change my vote back knowing that at his core he was a man of integrity. If instead he offered to bribe me I would know that the allegations raised by the labour campaigner were true and that I would be sure of my vote.

The discord chat log has been edited to remove the immediate offer to outmatch anything I had been offered previously to change my vote back. If the senate find my lying about any bribe offer morally wrong then I will widrawh my nomination but please no that both Blarite and President Sev are both men of integrity unlike a certain other presidential candidate who did not hesitate to immediately offer any position I wanted if I changed my vote back.

If you belive that what I did was wrong or that I am not telling the full story, then vote against my confirmation but neither Blarite nor President Sven offered me anything for my vote, they are true people of integrity and I remain proud of voting for our President.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

I will take the nominee's statement as the truth. I will remain oriented on the facts of the matter, then.



After my administration and the surprisingly strong victory we saw in the North Korean Civil War, the peninsula has been a vital point of interest as CCP China now borders a Republic.

What is your goal as far as Korea is concerned? What role will they have in the fight against CCP aggression?

They are a vital ally and will continue to receive economic support for rebuilding after the war as well as military support to secure their soverignty. Our main aim is to ensure that they can support a domestic military is sufficient to maintain their sovereignty with their own economy, hence my policy will focus on forging trade links and providing the economic support required for that to happen. Until that happens I foresees we will continue to require a strong military presence in the region.

Not only is Korea geographically important but it is also ideologically important, we need a democratic bulkward to present an asian liberal democratic alternative to the communist authoritarianism of the CCP. We will support such a country in the strongest terms throught our diplomatic effort in the region.

Do you believe that Atlasia should move towards restoring relations with Saudi Arabia?

Yes I do think that while many of their actions are morally wrong and violate human rights, cutting relations totally is not productive nor will it lead to good diplomatic outcome.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

How active will you be as SOS? This is basically the only thing I care about. Your record so far seems to suggest inactivity.

I can only give you my word that I will remain active, do know however that participation in a  state legislative body involving many issue you find uninteresting and participation as an active cabinet secretary will be a different matter.

What is the nominee's position on the status of the Kurds? Do you believe Atlasia has enough capital to forge an independent Kurdistan agreement or do you prefer protecting the Kurds' autonomy within their nations' borders?

I do think that Kurdish autonomy is best secured within the existing national borders, forming an independent state from the terrority of 3 states is a simple non-starter and  Iraq has shown that it is possible to give autonomy to Kurdish regions under the existing borders. Furthermore many regions are non homegouns and there is no clear geographical border that a hypothetical kurdistan would follow, the establishment of one creates a high risk of destabilising conflict that we would wish to avoid.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

I apologize in the delay in my reply to these questions as I was occupied previously.

What is the nominee's position on the Civil War in Syria and the War on Afghanistan and the Insurgency in Southeastern Nigeria?

The civil war in Syria is winding down and it seems that the Assad Goverment will remain victorious, at a certain point in the future with consultation with the NSC and Senate we may have to normalize relationships with them. Any descion regarding The War in Afganistan and Insurgency in Southeastern Nigeria will be made in close consultation with the military and intelligence services, until I have the chance I do not wish to state any postions based on incomplete information.

New question.

Should Jakub Schmid win the upcoming Paflagonian presidential election, how will you and the President approach our relations with Paflagonia and ensure that its people can remain in a stable and free democracy?

We remain heavily concerned about the situation and will countinue to monitor the situation in Paflagonian for any signs of democratic backsliding no matter the result of the election. Any move away from a free democracy will be diplomaticaly opposed by us.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

What is the nominee's stance on Indo-Pakistani relations and the dispute over Kashmir?

The nominee supports a peaceful and diplomatic solution that involves a bilateral agreement between Pakistan and India that respects the rights of the residents of the region.We wish that both countries to stop escelationary measures and come to a diplomatic agreement.

[Secretary of State Liberal Hack]

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?

1. I have worked in singapore for several years as a jounrnalist and latter in a think thank so I am very familiar with the geopolitics of that region
2. I would aim to convince them by showing real results and working to reduce anxiety in the PRC regarding fears that we aim to change their regime.
3. We will create comprhensive agreements with the PRCS that come with clauses that punish non-compliance which we will not hesistate to exercise. Priorities for Cooperation include Climate Change, Trade Imbalance and Counter-Terrorirsm
4.I can not make a qualified assent risk now without having personal seen our best intelligence but personally I would rate the risk as low given the heavy fortification of the island and chinas warrines regarding militarya action following their failure to break the blockade.