China’s former foreign minister, Wang Yi, has become Chinese President Xi Jinping’s top foreign policy advisor, replacing the veteran Yang Yiechi, who resigned from the post at the age of 72.
Yi will head the Directorate of the Office of the Communist Party’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission. This Sunday he published an article in Qiushi, the flagship magazine of the Chinese Communist Party, in which he describes his foreign policy priorities for the coming years. This is, therefore, the first official sign that he has taken up the post.
In that publication, he has pledged to deepen ties with Russia, achieve closer high-level communication with Europe and correct the course of bilateral relations with the United States, as reported by the South China Morning Post.
The Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress decided on Friday, December 30, to dismiss Wang Yi from the post of foreign minister he had held since 2013. He will be replaced by the Chinese ambassador to the United States, Qin Gang.
Qin becomes foreign minister after a stint as head of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, a post to which he was appointed in July 2021. During this time, Beijing’s policy towards Washington has oscillated between frontal criticism and attempts at rapprochement.
The new minister, who has served in the past as spokesman for the same department, has sometimes distanced himself from Beijing’s official line, for example by dismissing fears of a potential war with Taiwan or admitting that China could have done more to prevent Russia from invading Ukraine.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
