China’s new ambassador to the United States, Qin Gang, arrived on Wednesday and gave a brief address to the media. He was recently China’s Vice Foreign Minister. He replaces Cui Tiankai, who served in Washington, DC, for eight years.
Qin said that he would work “to safeguard the foundation of China-U.S. relations, uphold the shared interests of the two peoples, and endeavor to bring China-U.S. relations back on track, turning the way for the two countries to get along with each other — mutual respect, equality, win-win cooperation and a peaceful coexistence — from a possibility into a reality.” He said that the world hopes for a sound, growing, healthy China-U.S. relationship, hence, the need to forge new paths and build new bridges whenever necessary to take us past former challenges. He explicitly referred to the principle enunciated in the recent Xi-Biden exchange, that we are to build bridges of communication and cooperation.
Global Times reflected the Chinese view that Qin is well-prepared to handle ‘over-the-top’ challenges from the West. Qin recently confronted British Ambassador Caroline Wilson regarding UK sanctions over Xinjiang, telling her that China had “unwavering determination to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests….” He vowed “necessary and legitimate responses to the U.K.’s wrongdoings.” And in February, Qin responded to the Western complaint of “wolf warrior diplomacy” by responding that those who smear China unscrupulously without any evidence are nothing less than “evil wolves.”
Otherwise, five years ago, it was Qin who was chosen as the diplomatic protocol chief during Xi’s state visit to the US. Global Times summed it up by citing Lu Xiang, research fellow on US studies at Beijing’s Academy of Science: “Qin has excellent skills of expression, charm, and a big heart to handle the most complicated and also the most important bilateral ties in the world.”
