Top U.S. Beijing Post to Be Empty
The United States is temporarily leaving its ambassador’s post to China vacant during a tense, acrimonious period in Sino-U.S. relations.
Ambassador J. Stapleton Roy, a career diplomat and China expert, will be leaving next week for meetings in Washington before taking up the top job at the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia.
The Clinton Administration has yet to name a successor.
Roy initially told the Administration he would stay on until a successor was named, but the State Department decided the delay had become too protracted, Kim Hargan, a U.S. Embassy spokesman, said Sunday.
While it is not unusual for an ambassador’s post to be left vacant, the hiatus comes at a time of sour relations between Washington and Beijing.
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