US-China relations: career diplomat Nicholas Burns tipped to be next American ambassador

Appointment of a State Department insider would break with recent habit of political appointees being given the Beijing posting
Burns previously served as undersecretary of state under George W Bush and has served as US envoy to Greece and Nato

Joe Biden

Laura Zhou

Published: 5:00pm, 16 Apr 2021

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Nicholas Burns, a career diplomat and Harvard professor, is the front-runner to become the next US ambassador to Beijing, according to media reports.

Citing sources, political news website Axios reported that Burns, one of the foreign policy advisers to Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, is in the final stages of vetting to fill the position, which has been vacant since October.

No final decision has been made, but Biden is expected to announce his diplomatic nominees to major countries in Europe and Asia in the coming weeks, the report said.

Other names floated in Washington also include Rahm Emanuel, the one-time White House chief of staff and former mayor of Chicago.

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If Burns, 65, is confirmed, it will break with the habit in recent years of appointing former politicians to the post.

“It appears that new US government, particularly the State Department under Antony Blinken, are keen to choose someone with professional knowledge and background so that he could keep a tight line with the State Department in carrying out its China policy,” Lu Xiang, a specialist on US affairs at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

While career diplomats like Burns will be more accustomed to the State Department’s practices, “the drawback is that [he] may be less self-motivated to explore particular opportunities at this delicate and complex moment in Sino-US relationship,” Lu added.

Burns started his foreign service career in Africa and the Middle East in the early 1980s, then sat on the National Security Council under George HW Bush and Bill Clinton. He later served as ambassador to Greece and permanent representative to Nato, before being made undersecretary of state for political affairs, the third-ranking position in the state department, by George W Bush.

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Lu noted that Blinken had a similar background to Burns, both are career diplomats who spent much of their time in the Middle East.

“The lack of experiences in establishing and maintaining stable relations with great powers may also contribute to current messy affairs with China,” Lu said.

While the Biden administration is still crafting its China policy, a consensus has formed in Washington about challenging China on multiple fronts, ranging from trade and technology to human rights, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

In a move that could further strain relations with China, Biden sent an unofficial delegation, including former US senator Chris Dodd and former deputy secretaries of state Richard Armitage and James Steinberg, to Taiwan for a three-day visit this week, a trip the White House described as a “personal signal” of his commitment to the self-ruled island and its democracy.

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Speaking at a virtual discussion hosted by Brussels-based think tank European Policy Centre on Thursday, Burns said Europe had made a “tactical mistake” by reaching an investment agreement with China and called for “stronger, more unified American-European and Japanese efforts to limit China and to compete with China”.

“We can’t allow the Chinese to divide us,” he said. “So the challenge here is, on 5G and other issues, can we be together? … there’s every reason for the US to want to be working with Europe on this and I think it’s the greatest test, however, in China.”