China welcomes ‘old friend’ Terry Branstad as likely US envoy
Iowa governor, who has known China’s President Xi Jinping since 1985, welcome to play bigger role in Sino-US ties, says foreign ministry spokesman
Beijing said on Wednesday it welcomes Terry Branstad to play a stronger role in the Sino-US relationship, after the Republican governor of Iowa has been widely tipped to be the next US envoy to China.
But Chinese diplomatic observers warned that Beijing still needed to be cautious over how incoming US president Donald Trump, who takes office in less than two months, would pursue a China agenda that remained largely unclear.
“Branstad is an old friend of China and [we] welcome him to play a bigger role in China-US exchanges,” said Lu Kang, the spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The role of US ambassador to China serves as an important bridge in communication between China and the United States, and no matter who is picked, China would like to work together with him to push forward healthy and stable development of China-US relations.”
Lu was asked about a recent report by Bloomberg that cited three unnamed sources as saying that Trump had offered the post of US ambassador to China to Branstad, who has had a working relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping since 1985.
