The fallout from President Joe Biden’s decision Sunday not to seek reelection continues but there are indications Vice President Kamala Harris —whose self-chosen Chinese name is He Jinli —will maintain the Biden administration’s China policy if elected in November.
Tight lips in Beijing. A Chinese translation of Biden’s letter announcing his decision was circulating on China’s Weibo social media platform within hours. But Beijing is steering clear of comment. “The presidential elections are the United States’ own affairs. We have no comment on that,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Monday.
China treading carefully. “The first message out of the embassy in Washington [to Beijing] is to stress that you cannot assume Kamala will be at the top of the ticket —I think Hillary’s loss in 2016 has made them cautious about assuming that something is a sure thing,” said David Rank, former chargé d’affaires at the U.S. embassy in Beijing during the Obama administration and now head of China practice at The Cohen Group, a business consultancy firm.
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