The United States Embassy in Manila yesterday said Mina Chang will serve as an executive of the US Agency for International Development, dismissing reports she will replace current Ambassador Sung Kim.
“We’ve seen this claim. It is not true,” the embassy, through acting Press Attaché Trude Raizen, said in a statement.
On Tuesday, reports surfaced that Chang, currently assigned as the deputy assistant secretary at the State Department Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations, is being eyed as the next US Ambassador to Manila, with presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo even noting the reports.
The embassy said President Donald Trump’s intent to nominate Chang as the Assistant Administrator of the USAID for the Bureau of Asia was announced in September 2018.
“The nomination was referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January 2019. There have been no additional White House announcements regarding her nomination to the USAID position,” the embassy clarified.
Kim assumed his post as Washington’s envoy to Manila in 2016, replacing Philip Goldberg, who served from 2013 to 2016. (PNA)