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China has a brand new ambassador to the US: Xie Feng, beforehand the vice international minister. Xie arrived in Washington on Might 23, formally changing Qin Gang, who left the publish in December 2022 to develop into international minister.
Xie has deep expertise engaged on the China-U.S. relationship. That marks a notable distinction with Qin, who had nearly no expertise in the US earlier than he arrived as China’s ambassador in August 2021. As an alternative, Qin was promoted extra for his closeness to Xi Jinping.
On the time of Qin’s appointment, there was some hypothesis that Beijing was downgrading the significance of diplomatic expertise – and the relationship-building that comes with it – in favor of political pedigree. The Chinese language ambassador to the U.S. earlier than Qin, Cui Tiankai, had a deep pedigree of labor on the China-U.S. relationship earlier than taking over his publish in Washington. Xie’s appointment, nevertheless, means that Qin’s appointment was an aberration, reasonably than a brand new pattern.
In actual fact, Qin’s stint because the Chinese language ambassador could have at all times been envisioned as a short-term stepping stone to his present publish as international minister. As Chihwei Yu and Ok. Tristan Tang famous in a November 2022 article for The Diplomat, if it weren’t for Qin’s appointment as U.S. ambassador, he wouldn’t have served overseas since 2011. Such expertise is mostly thought-about a prerequisite for taking over the international minister publish – as is a few expertise in dealing with U.S. relations, which Qin additionally lacked. On condition that, it appears doubtless that Qin’s elevation to U.S. ambassador was as a lot about padding his resume in preparation for the longer term promotion as serving China-U.S. relations.
Not like Qin, Xie has deep experience on the US. From 1993-2014 he bounced forwards and backwards between stints on the Chinese language Embassy in the US (serving first as counselor and spokesperson, then as a minister) and postings within the Chinese language International Ministry’s Division of North American and Oceanian Affairs, together with as that division’s director-general from 2010 to 2014.
Xie then served as ambassador to Indonesia (2014-2017), and the International Ministry’s commissioner to Hong Kong (2017-2021, that means he was in Hong Kong by means of the 2019 protests and subsequent enactment of the Nationwide Safety Regulation) earlier than returning to take up the publish of vice international minister in 2021. There, in line with the South China Morning Put up, he was particularly tasked with dealing with China-U.S. relations
Xie made a splash in his new publish as vice international minister at a gathering with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in Tianjin in August 2021. As Shi Jiangtao and Catherine Wong put it of their write up for SCMP, “In an unusually blunt message directed on the second-ranking American diplomat, he [Xie] denounced the administration of President Joe Biden for singling Beijing out as an ‘imaginary enemy’, and demanded that China be handled as an equal.”
The interplay, they famous, belied Xie’s general popularity as “rational, media-savvy, and meticulous.” However, as I’ve argued earlier than, ultimately the person proclivities of Chinese language officers, together with diplomats, matter far lower than the indicators they’re receiving from up prime. And Xie proved adept at following Xi’s lead.
For the reason that fireworks of that early assembly, Xie has taken a decrease profile, whereas holding frequent interactions with Individuals. U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns famous on Twitter that he had held 23 meetings with Xie in 14 months. (He selected to not level out that a type of interactions was an notorious dressing down after the US downed an alleged surveillance balloon from China in February 2023.)
Along with frequent conferences with Burns, Xie has met with visiting U.S. enterprise leaders on at the least 4 events, along with conferences with the president of the Nationwide Committee on U.S.-China Relations and the honorary president of the Julliard College. In different phrases, as China reopened to common international journey in early 2023, Xie has largely been the official face welcoming high-profile U.S. visitors.
His messages at these conferences have been constant: echoing the official coverage line that China stays dedicated to “opening up” and can “firmly pursue a path of peaceable improvement.”
In remarks to reporters upon arriving in the US, Xie famous two priorities, in descending order: “As a consultant of the Chinese language folks, I’ve come right here to safeguard the pursuits of China, and I take this as my sacred duty. As an envoy of the Chinese language folks, I’ve come right here to boost China-U.S. exchanges and cooperation, and I take this as my necessary mission.”
In different phrases, we will anticipate extra “wolf warrior diplomacy” every time Beijing sees its core pursuits at stake (which is prone to occur incessantly, if the latest previous is any information). However Xie selected to focus extra on the second precedence, enhancing exchanges and cooperation, and thus largely struck a hopeful tone in his remarks.
“Clearly there are profound variations between the 2 nations, and the connection is confronted with severe difficulties and challenges,” he mentioned. However he additionally famous the historic context that “this relationship has gone by means of many twists and turns up to now half century, but it has at all times been in a position to transfer forward.”
Saying that the “China-U.S. relationship has as soon as once more come to a historic crossroads,” Xie mentioned each nations “ought to take concrete actions to ship on the widespread understandings between President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden, and discover the precise solution to get together with one another within the new period.”
There’s a window of alternative open, with latest talks between U.S. Nationwide Safety Advisor Jake Sullivan and China’s prime diplomat Wang Yi hanging probably the most hopeful observe in years. Whereas nobody expects China and the US to develop into shut associates, they’ll take steps to handle the plain tensions between them by constructing belief and confidence. Xie’s appointment, given his 30 years of expertise on China-U.S. relations, is a robust sign that Beijing is open to really doing that work.
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