According to official media, China chose US Ambassador Qin Gang as its new foreign minister on Friday, appointing a senior diplomat known for speaking out strongly against the West.
Wang Yi, who has represented China diplomatically since 2013, is replaced by the 56-year-old.
Since last year, Qin has served as Beijing’s senior ambassador in Washington, where he is tasked with repairing the deteriorating ties between the two biggest economies in the world.
Qin, a native of the northern city of Tianjin, has developed a reputation as a “wolf fighter,” a moniker given to Chinese diplomats who passionately criticise Western countries they believe to be hostile.
In 2020, he claimed, China’s reputation in the West had deteriorated because Europeans and Americans, particularly the media, had never embraced the country’s governmental structure or its rapid economic growth.
For many years, Qin served as the foreign ministry of China’s spokeswoman.
Prior to 2018, while serving as the head of the protocol division of the foreign ministry, he frequently crossed paths with President Xi Jinping.
Between 2018 till last year, he also held the position of vice foreign minister.
With reference to China’s history as a victim of the Opium Wars of the 19th century, Qin Gang has previously outlined a view of China as a nation with little to learn from the West.
