Rubio says Buttigieg lacks "depth of understanding" to deal with China

With legal challenges continuing to loom over the 2020 presidential election and his newly-minted administration, President-elect Joe Biden is facing harsh scrutiny over some of the picks he is making to fill top administration positions, including some that may be out of their "depth."

One of the individuals Biden is considering for appointment is former presidential candidate and Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who is on the shortlist to be Ambassador to China, the greatest foreign adversary to the U.S.

Senator Marco Rubio, who has been banned and sanction by the Communist Chinese government over his alleged bad behavior and actions in regards to Hong Kong, landed a stiff jab at Buttigieg’s experience in dealing with China.

“Look, and it’s no disrespect towards the Mayor, who frankly just doesn’t have the breadth and depth of experience interacting with China,” said Sen. Rubio The Story with Martha MacCallum. “In fact, his only experience with China, to my understanding, is he worked at McKinsey, a consulting group… there’s China-related issues with regards to them and some of the companies that they’ve supported.”

While Rubio questions his ability to deal with China, he doesn’t question whether Buttigieg is  “qualified to bean an ambassador” somewhere, just not in China.

Rubio reiterated that Buttigieg lacked the “depth of understanding” when it comes to China and that being the Mayor of South Bend, Indiana doesn’t get him ready to deal with the Chinese.

“It doesn’t mean he’s not qualified to be an ambassador somewhere,” added Rubio.” I just personally believe that you are dealing with the second largest economy in the world, the second most powerful military in the world, a near-peer competitor to the United States, the county with whom the relationship we have will define the rest of the 21st century. I think it’s important that we send someone to that post that has some depth of understanding about all the issues related to that country and our relationship with them. And again, with all due respect to the former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, I just don’t think that that’s what gets you ready for it.”