[Asia Economy New York=Special Correspondent Joselgina] U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken spoke with Qin Gang, the newly appointed Chinese Foreign Minister, on the 1st (local time).
Secretary Blinken stated on Twitter that "I spoke this morning with Qin Gang, the Chinese Foreign Minister who is leaving Washington DC to assume his new position," adding, "We discussed the U.S.-China relationship and keeping communication channels between the U.S. and China open."
Qin Gang, the new Foreign Minister, has served as China's Ambassador to the U.S. in Washington DC since July 2021. He is regarded as a symbolic figure of China's characteristic aggressive diplomacy known as "Wolf Warrior diplomacy." Even after becoming Ambassador to the U.S., he took a hardline stance toward America, saying things like "If differences cannot be resolved, the U.S. should just shut up," and directly warning of the possibility of a U.S.-China military conflict.
Meanwhile, the former Foreign Minister Wang Yi was appointed as the head of the Foreign Affairs Office of the Chinese Communist Party, which is the top position in the diplomatic and security line. Although there has been no official announcement from the authorities, it was confirmed that on the 1st, an article under the name of the head of the Foreign Affairs Office was published in the 2023 issue 1 of Qiushi, the CCP's theoretical journal. With China placing hardliners in the top two positions of its diplomatic line, it is expected that statements asserting China's position will pour out in future U.S.-China relations.
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