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Meet the team China expects to unknot ties with the United States

Wang Qishan, Liu He, Yang Jiechi and Wang Yi are on Beijing’s diplomatic front line as it tries to reduce frictions with Washington

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Foreign Minster and newly-appointed State Councillor Wang Yi takes the oath of office at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Monday. Photo: AP

China has unveiled most of the main players charged with handling the vexed Sino-US ties, with the elevation of Foreign Minister Wang Yi to state councillor at the national legislature’s annual meeting in Beijing on Monday.

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Wang’s rise to state councillor – a position not previously held by a serving foreign minister – is among a number of moves expected to raise the profile of diplomats in the nation’s decision-making structure as North Korea, Taiwan and the South China Sea – and the US – loom as more urgent priorities.

It also follows the naming of former anti-graft chief Wang Qishan as a vice-president handling foreign affairs, and Liu He, President Xi Jinping’s most trusted economic adviser, as vice-premier. Liu is expected to manage the country’s financial and economic affairs, a major source of friction with the US.

The changes come after more than a decade of diminished standing for China’s diplomats in the decision-making structure. 

From 1998 until late last year, there were no diplomats in the Communist Party’s powerful Politburo, and state councillor was the most senior rank a diplomat could achieve. 

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But in October an overhaul of the system saw former state councillor Yang Jiechi – the country’s top diplomat – given one of the 25 seats on the Politburo. Liu was also named as a Politburo member.

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