Fire and fury: the young Chinese hawks chosen to take on Washington

Xie Feng was sent in to do the tough talking to the US’ Wendy Sherman in Tianjin last month

But just how much can he and new Chinese envoy Qin Gang achieve in an era of growing belligerence?

Reading Time:7 minutes

99+

Published: 5:00am, 6 Aug 2021Updated: 10:56am, 6 Aug 2021

China and the US have been at loggerheads on almost all fronts, but with tensions continuing into the Joe Biden presidency, where is the relationship heading? After US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman’s visit to Tianjin last week, and the Washington debut of China’s new envoy to the US Qin Gang, this series aims to check the temperature of bilateral relations. Here, Shi Jiangtao and Catherine Wong look at how a new generation of Chinese diplomats will handle Beijing’s relations with Washington.

While the tense exchanges in Tianjin last week between Chinese and American diplomats underlined the deepening crisis between the world’s top two economies, it also put a spotlight on two rising stars in China’s diplomatic corps.

Qin Gang, China’s new ambassador to the United States, made a rare appearance at Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s meeting with US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman on Sunday, just two days before leaving for Washington, according to people with knowledge of the event.

But Xie Feng, China’s newly appointed vice foreign minister in day-to-day charge of American affairs, was the one making headlines with his fiery remarks during the four hours of talks with Sherman.

In an unusually blunt message directed at the second-ranking American diplomat, he denounced the administration of President Joe Biden for singling Beijing out as an “imaginary enemy”, and demanded that China be treated as an equal.

“The hope may be that by demonising China, the US could somehow ... blame China for its own structural problems,” state media quoted him as saying.

Xie Feng is China’s newly appointed vice foreign minister in day-to-day charge of American affairs. Photo: Phoenix TV via AP Video

With both Beijing and Washington struggling to come up with a winning strategy in the post-engagement era, Xie and Qin are expected to work together to perform frontline roles in managing China’s increasingly belligerent ties with the US in the years to come.

SCMP Series

China and the US: where is the relationship heading?

[ 3 of 4 ]

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x

Fire and fury: the young Chinese hawks chosen to take on Washington

Xie Feng was sent in to do the tough talking to the US’ Wendy Sherman in Tianjin last month But just how much can he and new Chinese envoy Qin Gang achieve in an era of growing belligerence?

Xie Feng was sent in to do the tough talking to the US’ Wendy Sherman in Tianjin last month

But just how much can he and new Chinese envoy Qin Gang achieve in an era of growing belligerence?