Career diplomat Xie Feng is known for his plain-speaking style, but he has also spent many years working in US politics.
Xie Feng, China’s new ambassador to the United States, has said that while relations between the two countries face “serious difficulties and challenges”, he will try to improve bilateral cooperation.
“I have come here to safeguard China’s interests. This is my sacred responsibility,” Xie told reporters after landing at New York’s John F Kennedy International Airport.
“I am also the envoy of the Chinese people, so I have come here to improve exchanges and cooperation between China and the United States,” said Xie, who has earned a reputation for strongly criticizing U.S. actions as ties between the strategic rivals have soured over issues ranging from Taiwan to trade.
Xie, 59, a career diplomat, was most recently the vice foreign minister responsible for overseeing US policy.
Xie, a fluent English speaker who has twice been posted to China’s embassy in Washington, DC, in February accused the United States of “obstinately” shooting down what it suspected was a Chinese spy balloon after his flight over the US caused a diplomatic crisis.
Beijing said it was a civilian airship and filed a formal complaint over the incident.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the United States welcomed Xie’s arrival.
“We look forward to working with the ambassador-designate and his team. We remain committed, as we have said on several occasions, to maintaining channels of communication with the PRC [People’s Republic of China] to manage competition responsibly,” Miller said.
Xie has taken a confrontational tone in past meetings with US officials, including when he hosted Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman in 2021 in Tianjin, where he issued a long list of demands for the US to improve ties while accusing Washington of create an “imaginary enemy”. ” in China.
However, Xie’s arrival in the embassy post, which has been vacant since his predecessor Qin Gang was promoted to foreign minister late last year, could help Beijing stop criticism that he has ignored calls for greater engagement from US President Joe Biden and his administration.
The gap without an ambassador was the longest in four decades, according to China’s state-run Global Times.
Qin told Washington’s envoy to Beijing this month that it was essential to stabilize relations.
Two weeks ago, it emerged that US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and China’s top diplomat Wang Yi had met in Vienna for talks, with both sides describing the previously unannounced meeting as to “frank, substantive and constructive”.
Biden, who expressed a desire to speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping after the balloon incident, said Sunday he expected more talks between the United States and China “very soon.”
Bonnie Glaser, an Asia expert at the US German Marshall Fund, said Xie was capable of facilitating better communication “if he wants to.”
Chinese state media noted that he had recently met with several top American business executives.
“The decision to finally send Xie Feng appears to be part of this effort to avoid a spiraling deterioration of bilateral ties,” Glaser said.
