Curtis reaffirms importance of Republican engagement in global climate discussions, cites nuclear policy shift as example of GOP influence
Washington, D.C. – During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing today, U.S. Senator John Curtis (R-UT) and Secretary of State Marco Rubio engaged in a productive exchange on America’s global energy strategy, climate diplomacy, and the future of U.S. foreign aid. Senator Curtis emphasized the importance of a Republican voice at the Conference of the Parties (COP), praised the State Department’s efforts at realigning foreign aid with strategic initiatives, and called for greater coordination with faith-based humanitarian groups. Secretary Rubio echoed Curtis’ call for energy leadership and warned of China’s expanding influence through economic proxies like Hong Kong-based firms.
A transcript of the exchange is below and the video file can be downloaded here.
Senator Curtis: Mr. Secretary, as you talked about visiting 18 countries and not being with your kids, I had a pang of guilt with you being here today, but thank you for making this a priority and being with us today.
This might surprise some of my colleagues and maybe even you, but for the last several years, I’ve led a Republican delegation over to the Conference of the Parties, “COP.” And I believe that a Republican voice is really important at that table.
I would point to issues, for instance, like nuclear. When I first started attending COP, nuclear was out of power, and we were shouting from the housetops that we had to have nuclear power. And I think that that’s shown the influence of a Republican voice over there.
Your agency has done, and I applaud, a lot of reduction and cost cutting. Part of that has been the State Department’s Office of Global Change, which would normally handle the COP arrangements. I’m wondering who we would work with, and if you’ve given any thought of who we can coordinate to make sure that we have a good presence over there in Brazil.
The Honorable Marco Rubio: Yeah. So, that’ll be rolled into our economics bureau in the restructure. And I think on the energy front, it’s actually going to be at the forefront of foreign policy for the next 100 years. One of the reasons why just AI alone and AI development alone is going to put a strain on the amount of energy that’s going to take to produce AI and AI-driven innovations.
Well, we just don’t produce enough global energy to meet it. And so, it’s going to provide two things. The strategic opportunities for nations that can deliver cost efficient energy in a sufficient volume, it’s going to become an enormous opportunity for these countries to be leaders in the AI space.
But the other is it’s going to put a strain on everybody else because it’s going to use up those energy resources. So, we need to be at the table to have conversations about how not just what our role in energy is, but how we help invest or partner with countries that have a supply of energy.
So, as an example, Paraguay has a hydroelectric plant right now, and they were in a long term deal with Brazil, where they sold them 50% of the energy being produced. That deal is now expired. They’re trying to figure out what to do with the 50% of electricity generated by hydropower that is no longer going to be going to Brazil, and they can’t put that in a tank and ship it overseas. So someone, if they’re smart, is going to go down to Paraguay and open up an AI facility.
Guyana has just made extraordinary discoveries on natural gas and oil. This is a country that’s going to become incredibly rich very quickly, and has an opportunity to both invest that wealth to develop their society, but also become a platform for other industries that could help strengthen the region.
Curtis: For the sake of time, I just would love to work with the State Department on that and make sure we have a good presence for that message. I also believe the United States can carry a message that you don’t have to give up affordability, you don’t have to give up reliability and we can also be clean. I think that’s a really strong message of force.
Foreign assistance has been talked about a lot today. And I’d like to just point out that there are a number of philanthropic entities, and in Utah, we have The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who are really ready to stand up and go to work. I know Catholic Charities, there’s many like that, and just want to make sure you’re factoring those into kind of your rebuild and restructure. I know there are a lot of people like that ready to jump in and be part of this.
Rubio: Absolutely. And just to go back on foreign aid for a moment, we’re not walking. We’re going to be doing foreign aid. We’re going to be doing humanitarian relief, disaster relief. We’re going to be doing all the things we’ve done before. Maybe not some of the same projects, but we’re going to be doing all of it.
The difference is it’s going to be coordinated out of the umbrella of the State Department, and it’s going to be part of a cohesive, coherent foreign policy. And it’s going to be driven by our embassies and our regional bureaus.
So, in the case of the Philippines, which was brought up a moment ago, we’re going to rely not just on the region, the bureau here in Washington, but in our embassy on the ground to help us every single year construct what aid needs to be delivered, be it humanitarian or disaster relief or the like, to that country.
And that’s been missing, that sort of cohesive approach to how we treat foreign aid as a tool in our broader toolbox as opposed to its brand, its own toolbox altogether. We want to make it part of our broader toolbox on foreign policy.
Curtis: And I think my only footnote is, as we do that, let’s keep in mind that many people are willing to participate and be part of this, without a drag on the U.S. tax dollar, that I think can complement the vision that you just laid.
I’ve had the opportunity to work with you on the House side on some legislation, and to some degree fill some of your big shoes here on Taiwan and Hong Kong.
And I just wanted to touch on that briefly. I know Senator Ricketts brought up Taiwan. With the recent implementation of more national security laws and the blockade style drills around Taiwan, how can Congress better work with you and your department to support you and make sure we’re doing everything that we can do?
Rubio: I mean, unfortunately, with Taiwan, I think, I’m sorry, with Hong Kong, as we’ve seen its autonomous stand, I think our law now reflects that is no longer real. It is basically an extension of, and I think one of the great examples of that is a company named Hutchison Ports, which is headquartered in Hong Kong.
And they control two of the main facilities, the two main facilities on the Panama Canal. And everyone was saying whether or not a Chinese company. They’re not Chinese, they’re a private Hong Kong company. Well, when Hutchison Ports decided they were going to sell, all of a sudden the Chinese government put all kinds of pressure on them and it slowed down the deal.
So, how can it be if this company’s an independent Hong Kong company, why do they care what the Chinese authorities think? Well, the reason is because they are under Chinese control and Chinese influence and the fact they’re headquartered in Hong Kong is no longer a protection from that.
So, I think it’s important for us to understand Hong Kong cannot become a place where China can evade, be it sanctions or restrictions, by simply hiding behind some company who has an address there.
It is sadly, tragically and unfortunately, fully under the control, for national security perspectives, of authorities in Beijing and sadly as part of that is lost all of the values that were in Hong Kong before of a free press, of free people, that went with that as well.
Curtis: Yeah.
Rubio: Those are incompatible with, you know, authoritarian rule.
Curtis: Good. Thank you. Thank you for being here today. Mr. Chairman, I yield.