Biden Appoints Career Diplomat as Ambassador to China

The Former Chicago Mayor Immanuel in the Sunday Ambassador

Nicholas Burns, Nominee for U.S. Ambassador to China
Photo by AP News

[Asia Economy New York=Correspondent Baek Jong-min] The White House announced on the 20th (local time) that U.S. President Joe Biden has appointed Nicholas Burns, a career diplomat and former Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, as the U.S. Ambassador to China.

For the ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, former Chicago mayor and the first Chief of Staff under former President Barack Obama, was selected.

With the appointments of ambassadors to China and Japan finalized seven months after the Biden administration took office, it is expected that the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy to counter China will accelerate further.

Burns served as State Department spokesperson and Ambassador to Greece under the Clinton administration, and as NATO Ambassador and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs under the George W. Bush administration. He is currently a professor at Harvard Kennedy School.

Burns was deeply involved in North Korea policy, including sanctions, while serving as the State Department's 'number three' political affairs undersecretary from March 2005 to February 2008, including during North Korea’s first nuclear test in October 2006. In November 2006, he stated that the North Korean nuclear issue was central to U.S.-China relations and made this clear to the Chinese government.

U.S. media forecast that since President Biden broke the precedent of appointing politicians as ambassadors to China, the role of the ambassador to China is likely to become more significant amid U.S.-China tensions.

Rahm Emanuel, appointed as ambassador to Japan, served as mayor of Chicago, the political hometown of former President Obama, from 2011 to 2019. He was considered for Secretary of Transportation in the Biden administration but was not selected.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.