Is Mina Chang incoming US ambassador to Manila? Embassy says not true

THE UNITED STATES embassy has denied news reports that Mina Chang, the Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations of the US State Department, is being eyed as new ambassador to Manila.

“We’ve seen this claim. It is not true,” the US embassy said, clarifying that in September last year, the White House announced President Donald Trump’s intent to nominate Chang to be an assistant administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for the Bureau of Asia and the nomination was referred to the Senate foreign relations committee in January 2019.

The embassy said there have been no additional White House announcements regarding Chang’s nomination to the USAID position. South Korean-born American diplomat Sung Yong Kim is the current US Ambassador to the Philippines.

A purported photo of Chang in swimsuit was also sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner by a Filipino-American journalist who claimed the picture came from a source at the State Department. He suggested that the release of the photo could be a press campaign against Chang.

“Mukang may PR campaign versus her from within State Department. Mukang the Silk Road guys… sa China (sic) are worries kasi effective siya sa Africa and warning versus China loans. That’s what this seems to have all been about,” he said.

Prior to joining the Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, Chang served as the Chief Executive Officer of an international nongovernmental organization, Linking the World.

She has extensive on the ground experience in conflict areas such as in Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Nigeria, and the Philippines. And she has been an advocate for proactive stabilization as a strategic tool of foreign engagement and an investment in a stronger America abroad.

Chang is an alumna of the Harvard Business School, a graduate of the United States Army War College National Security Seminar, a Harvard John F. Kennedy Senior Executive in National and International Security and a former International Security Fellow at New America.

She has been published in CNN, Fortune, Foreign Policy Journal, Forbes, Defense One and The Hill, writing on issues of policy, humanitarian aid, development, the application of emerging technologies and data science capabilities by the sector and its role in the context of national security and global stability. (Mindanao Examiner)

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