“During my tenure here, I have been working to implement the common understandings of our two Presidents, serve as a bridge and bond of communication between the two countries, and explore the right way to get along for China and the US in the new era,” Qin said in farewell remarks on January 2.
In an article published in a US magazine days earlier, Qin urged Americans to “make the right choice” and not follow “the beaten path of the last century,” referring to the military, economic, and ideological competition with Beijing and Moscow that Washington has committed itself to in recent years.
12 January 2023, 11:30 GMT
Now that Qin has been promoted to Foreign Minister, whoever replaces him in Washington will have big shoes to fill - and have to march to the beat of Qin’s drum. However, experts on US-China relations have also noted that an even greater influence will be the tone set by the November meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden in Bali.
At that meeting, their first face-to-face since Biden became president, the two discussed possible areas of cooperation - areas that did not include their most contentious interactions, such as trade and security. According to experts, that helped alleviate some of the tension built up from the August visit to Taiwan by then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but left Qin and his successor without much room for creative diplomacy to bring the two superpowers closer.
“The process to find his replacement has been going on for a while,” said an anonymous knowledgeable source who was quoted in Chinese media. “And Xie is believed to be in pole position.”
Another quoted official, from the United States, described Xie as an “adaptive thinker.”
Xie is presently the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, specializing in US-China relations. He was previously the ambassador to Indonesia and the foreign ministry commissioner in Hong Kong from 2017 to early 2021, when he was assigned to the US section. From 2008 until 2010, he was the second-highest ranking Chinese embassy official in Washington, and later became head of the department overseeing US affairs. He is a graduate of the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing.
19 December 2022, 17:12 GMT
According to reports, other names under consideration are Ma Zhaoxu, another vice-minister of foreign affairs; Hua Chunying, an assistant minister and ministry spokesperson; Lu Kang, the ambassador to Indonesia; Zheng Zeguang; the ambassador to the UK; and two other embassy officials in Washington: Xu Xueyuan and Jin Quan.
Beijing is expected to announce its appointment before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, the country’s foreign minister, makes an official visit to China in February.