Obama’s pick for China ambassador
Print Edition
US Senator Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat who has taken a tough stance against some of China’s trade practices, will be nominated by President Barack Obama to be the next ambassador to Beijing, Senate aides said.
The choice underscores the importance Washington attaches to building economic links with China, including resolving many of the trade issues that have strained ties, Chinese experts on Sino-US relations said.
Baucus, who announced earlier this year his intention to retire from the Senate at the end of 2014, currently chairs the powerful Senate Finance Committee, which oversees tax and trade policy. He was first elected to the Senate in 1978.
Obama’s choice of the 72-year-old Baucus must be confirmed by the Senate. The chamber is not expected to consider the nomination until early next year.
Baucus would succeed Gary Locke.
“Even though Baucus has frequently given China a hard time, the government is unlikely to view his previous performances with colored glasses and tag him as part of the anti-China faction, they aren’t so naive,” said Sun Zhe, the director of the Center for US-China Relations at Tsinghua University in Beijing.
“After all, he was familiar with the Chinese government and with the way it operates. This will be beneficial to his work on the economy and trade.”
A Democratic official, who asked not to be identified, noted that Baucus led the successful US effort in the 1990s to admit China into the World Trade Organization in 2001 and to begin normal bilateral trade relations with Beijing.
In July, Baucus and three other influential members of Congress wrote to Obama to urge him to press China to halt the “theft of intellectual property” and to curb practices that discriminate against US companies.
In June, he was among a group of senators who raised concerns about a plan by Chinese meat company Shuanghui International to buy US pork firm Smithfield Foods Inc, citing national security and food safety interests.
Despite his stance on trade issues, Baucus would help drive the next phase of economic cooperation between the two nations, said Ruan Zongze, a former Chinese diplomat in the US and a senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies.
Ruan said Baucus “likely understands China quite a bit, so this is not a surprising choice, neither is it an accidental one.”
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