Workmen were still redecorating the exterior of the main US Embassy building that protesters damaged this summer as retired admiral Joseph Prueher took up his new post on Friday.
Admiral Prueher, 58, from Tennessee, served for three years as chief of the US Pacific Command and was in charge when the United States deployed an aircraft carrier battle fleet in the Taiwan Strait.
Beijing had carried out what it called 'missile tests' aimed at intimidating Taiwanese voters tempted to vote for pro-independence candidates.
Admiral Prueher appears to have been selected in case his defence expertise is called for in the event of more military tension across the strait.
Beijing is waiting to see the results and policies which emerge from the presidential election in March.
But a string of previous US ambassadors have found themselves dealing with problems quite different from those they expected when selected.
James Sasser, a former senator, also from Tennessee, who spent years working on budget issues, probably expected to deal more with trade issues than military tension when he arrived in 1996.
