Kevin Rudd on Shortlist to Become Next Ambassador to the United States

This week, visiting American foreign policy expert Richard Fontaine, from the influential Washington think tank Center for a New American Security (CNAS), added his voice to those advocating for the former prime minister as Australia’s next chief diplomat in the United States.

“He’s well known, has many close relationships, is seen as an expert on the countries and issues that would be most important in the relationship, and I think is well liked by many people in Washington,” Fontaine told The Saturday Paper on Tuesday.

A former foreign policy adviser to the late US senator and 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain, Fontaine says Rudd’s superior China expertise is “of course” core to that appeal.

“Given how much China has become relevant to the Australia–US relationship, that would be a major plus given that he’s lived there, speaks the language and is an expert in his own right,” Fontaine says.

Read the full story and more from The Saturday Paper.