CHINAEUROPE AFRICAASIA 中文双语Français
World\Americas

'Old friend' Branstad is welcome as next ambassador, says Beijing

By Zhang Yunbi in Beijing and Chen Weihua in Washington | China Daily | Updated: 2016-12-09 07:52

Beijing signaled its welcome to the expected new US ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, whom policy experts described as a good messenger.

The nomination is believed to be a positive sign by US president-elect Donald Trump amid a recent row raised by Trump's phone call with Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen.

Branstad, the governor of Iowa, accepted Trump's invitation to be the next US top envoy to China on Wednesday.

Branstad said in a news release on Wednesday that he looks forward to "building on our long friendship to cultivate and strengthen the relationship between our two countries and to benefit our economy".

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Thursday that Branstad, "an old friend of the Chinese people", has made contributions to boosting bilateral cooperation, and Beijing is "glad to see an old friend take this job".

Although Trump's planned China policy remains unclear, speculation has focused on how Branstad, serving his sixth term as Iowa governor, will tap into his good ties with both President Xi Jinping and Trump as a senior diplomat.

Branstad's ties with Xi were established in 1985 when Xi visited Iowa during his first US trip as a county leader in Hebei province. Xi visited Iowa again in 2012 as vice-president.

Branstad supported Trump during the presidential race, and his son Eric ran Trump's general election campaign in Iowa.

Yuan Zheng, a researcher of US foreign policy at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Branstad's good connections with both sides will "allow him to better convey messages and eliminate strategic misunderstanding through effective liaison".

But "diplomacy may be a major challenge, as the relationship is always entangled with complicated topics", including the Taiwan question, so it might take him a while to learn and adapt, Yuan said.

Teng Jianqun, a senior researcher on US studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said Branstad probably will work effectively on promoting China-US communication on economy and trade, since Trump will not likely put a brake on the flourishing economic ties.

Contact the writers at zhangyunbi@chinadaily.com.cn

BACK TO THE TOP
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US