Related News
US ambassador to end 3-year China tenure
Print Edition
The United States ambassador to China will step down early next month, ending a three-year tenure marked by a trade war and increasingly bitter ties between the world’s two largest economies.
Terry Branstad, 73, was appointed by US President Donald Trump in 2017. He confirmed his decision in a phone call with Trump last week, the US Embassy said in a statement yesterday. It did not give a reason for his departure.
“I am proudest of our work in getting the phase 1 trade deal and delivering tangible results for our communities back home,” he was quoted as saying at an embassy staff meeting yesterday.
In a Twitter post early yesterday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo thanked Branstad for his services.
China’s foreign ministry said before the embassy statement that it was aware of Pompeo’s tweet but had not received any notice that Branstad was leaving.
Branstad was embroiled in a recent controversy when People’s Daily newspaper rejected an opinion column that he had written.
Pompeo tweeted last week that People’s Daily refused to run Branstad’s op-ed while the China’s US ambassador “is free to publish in any US media outlet.”
Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian responded that Branstad’s article was “full of loopholes, seriously inconsistent with facts and wantonly attacks and smears China.”
The US Embassy had contacted the People’s Daily on August 26 about the piece, asking that it be printed in full without any edits before September 4, the paper said in an online statement.
“If the Chinese government, as the US did, provided you with an article that seriously distorted the facts and attacked your country, and requested you to reply the next day and promise to post it without any changes, could you do it?” Zhao asked reporters attending a regular news briefing.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
