Biden nominates JFK's daughter Caroline Kennedy to be ambassador to Australia

[December 16, 2021]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday nominated Caroline Kennedy to be U.S. ambassador to Australia and Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan as ambassador to Belize, the White House said.

Kennedy, 64, is the daughter of John Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States who was assassinated in 1963. She previously served as U.S. ambassador to Japan from 2013-2017 under former President Barack Obama.

Kwan is the winner of two silver Olympic medals in figure skating. She has served as an adviser to the U.S. Department of State on women's issues.

Australia is a key ally to the United States and that relationship has strengthened in response to China's growing power and increasingly assertive behavior in Asia and beyond.

Kennedy's experience in Japan should be helpful in Canberra given that Australia and Japan are both members of the so-called Quad grouping, which includes the United States and India, that has been expanding cooperation in the face of China's rise.

In September, the United States, Britain and Australia announced a security pact dubbed AUKUS that will help Australia acquire U.S. nuclear-powered submarines and expand its security reach in the IndoPacific region.

Caroline Bouvier Kennedy, the daughter of late President John F. Kennedy and former ambassador to Japan, christens the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding division in Newport News, Virginia, U.S. December 7, 2019. U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Samuel Lee Pederson/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

Kennedy was the first female U.S. ambassador to Japan. She trained as an attorney and has co-authored books on civil liberties and edited anthologies of poetry.

It was unclear when Kennedy might be confirmed in her post, which requires Senate approval. Senate Republicans have been blocking dozens of Biden's nominees for diplomatic posts, including Nicholas Burns to be ambassador to China since his nomination in August.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb and David Brunnstrom; editing by Diane Craft, Rosalba O'Brien and Cynthia Osterman)

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