China’s Ambassador to the United States, Qin Gang, is set to become the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) top diplomat, state media confirmed Friday.
Qin was snubbed by the White House during most of his time in Washington, according to Semafor, which first broke the news of his promotion. He’s viewed as one of China’s “wolf warrior” diplomats who has taken an aggressive posture toward adversaries in public.
Qin Gang to be the next Chinese foreign minister.
It was he that doled out China’s retaliatory sanctions on EU last year, in language described to me as an “exact replica of Yang Jiechi” in Anchorage 3 days before
— Finbarr Bermingham (@fbermingham) December 30, 2022
Only in recent weeks have top officials in the Biden administration opened up more to Qin, realizing that he was set to become a key player in Chinese foreign policy, according to Semafor. The soon-to-be Foreign Minister met recently with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Prior to that, however, Qin was blocked from meeting any senior-level officials within the administration, according to Semafor. His relationship with the Biden team was frosty when he first became ambassador and only opened up when it became clear he was likely to become foreign minister.
Qin has previously compared the relationship between the United States and China to that of Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. “Burr lamented what he had done killing Hamilton and said maybe there was room enough in the world for both Burr and Hamilton,” he said in one interview. “Maybe there is room enough in the world for both China and the U.S.”
He’s also been critical of President Joe Biden’s foreign policy. In a recent op-ed for The National Interest, he claimed that the U.S. framing of the world as “democracy vs. authoritarianism” would “very likely usher in a world of division, competition, and conflict.” (RELATED: Companies Moving To Pull Manufacturing From China Due To COVID, Political Pressures)
He also called accusations of Uyghur genocide “fabrications, lies and disinformation” and threatened military conflict with the U.S. over Taiwan in an interview with NPR earlier this year.
Prior to becoming Ambassador to Washington, Qin served as Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs.