Washington, Branstad is
expected to leave Beijing before the November US Presidential election. Due to tensions between
China and the US, Terry Branstad the United States Ambassador to China has
announced he will be stepping down after more than three years as America's
highest diplomat in Beijing.
The
announcement comes amid increasing tensions between the US and China. The
Chinese government announced on Friday September 11, that it would be imposing
restrictions on senior US diplomats and personnel inside China in retaliation
after the US placed similar measures targeting Beijing's diplomatic corps on
September 3.In a Twitter post on Monday, September 14, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo confirmed Branstad's resignation.
"President (Donald
Trump) chose Ambassador Branstad because his decades-long experience dealing
with China made him the best person to represent the Administration and to
defend American interests and ideals in this important relationship,"
Pompeo said.
Branstad has overseen one
of the worst times of diplomatic relations between the US and China in recent
history. Since his appointment, the White House has placed tariffs on
hundreds of billions of dollars of Chinese goods as part of a long-running
trade war.
It also banned
Chinese technology firm, Huawei from the country's communications infrastructure
and tightened visa restrictions on Chinese state media journalists working in
the US.
Branstad was
one of then-President-elect Trump's first ambassadorial picks in December 2016,
shortly after Trump won the US Presidential election.
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