By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

Stockholm, Jan. 4(CED) — On the last day of 2022, China announced that Chinese Ambassador to US Qin Gang was appointed as Foreign Minister. This was three months earlier than normal procedure. The normal procedure should be after his term of three years, but he was appointed just after his mission for only 17 months.

Why is this happening? That is because the current Foreign Minister Wang Yi will be promoted to another position and there will be a vacancy for this position. On the other hand, American Secretary of State planned to visit Beijing next year. Likely he thought he would meet Wang Yi. But President Xi nominated Qin Gang as Foreign Minister. He has been in the US for 17 months.

This implies that Xi paid great attention to relations with the US and uses a person who has worked in the US.

Xi’s good intention should be used as a good opportunity to relax relations with China, but not seen as being weak.