Rashad Hussain confirmed as first Muslim religious freedom ambassador

• Hussain was the director for Partnerships and Global Engagement at the National Security Council and previously was senior counsel at the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.
• He served as U.S. special envoy to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), U.S. special envoy for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications and deputy associate White House counsel for the Obama administration.

The big picture: Hussain's confirmation makes him a leading U.S. spokesperson on international religious freedom amid the China government's genocide against Uyghur Muslims and other ethnic minorities in Xinjiang province.

• The U.S. has recently increased pressure on the Chinese government over its human rights abuses by blacklisting several Chinese companies, diplomatically boycotting the Beijing Olympics and passing legislation that bans all imports from Xinjiang unless it can be proven that the goods were not made with forced labor.
• The Senate Thursday also confirmed Nicholas Burns as U.S. ambassador to China with a 75-18 vote. He inherits the most complex and high-stakes bilateral relationship in the world, Axios' Zach Basu reports.

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