Top US diplomat steps down from Beijing post
Print Edition
THE top career diplomat at the US embassy in China has stepped down, an American official in Beijing confirmed yesterday, amid suggestions he opposes US President Donald Trump’s climate policy.
Embassy charge d’affaires David Rank was a 27-year veteran State Department officer appointed to serve in Beijing in January last year.
“Mr Rank made a personal decision. We appreciate his years of dedicated service to the State Department,” US embassy spokeswoman Mary Beth Polley said.
Polley said the embassy informed China’s foreign affairs ministry on Monday that Jonathan Fritz would be serving as charge d’affaires. She declined to comment on when a permanent replacement would be announced.
Trump’s choice as ambassador to China, former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, has yet to arrive in the country.
News of Rank’s resignation was broken by John Pomfret, an editor at the SupChina news site.
According to Pomfret, Rank stepped down because he “could not back Trump on climate” and had been dismayed by the decision to pull out of the Paris climate accord. Pomfret said Rank had called a meeting at the embassy about the US withdrawal.
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