U.S. to install senior diplomat as chargé to oversee China embassy: State Dept

By Antoni Slodkowski and Laurie Chen

BEIJING/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department said it will install a senior diplomat to oversee its 1,300-strong embassy in Beijing and consulates in China while Washington's ambassadorial pick David Perdue awaits Senate confirmation.

Anny Vu, current political section chief at the American Institute in Taipei (AIT), Washington's de facto embassy in Taiwan, will become chargé d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy on a temporary basis, a State Department spokesperson told Reuters late on Thursday.

"Anny Vu will serve as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim at U.S. Embassy Beijing. She will lead Mission China until the arrival of a Senate-confirmed ambassador," the spokesperson said.

Reuters could not establish when Vu will take up the post. Her appointment comes at a fragile time for U.S.-China relations, as U.S. President Donald Trump threatens to escalate a trade war with Beijing after doubling tariffs on Chinese imports this month over the flow of fentanyl precursors from China into the country.

Deputy Chief of Mission Sarah Beran, an experienced career civil servant who was responsible for China on the former U.S. President Joe Biden administration's National Security Council (NSC), has been running the embassy since the former U.S. Ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, left in January with the change of the U.S. president.

CHINA EXPERIENCE

Before her Taiwan posting, Vu held a senior role in the State Department's "China House" policy coordination office in Washington, according to a biography on the AIT website.

She also worked at the NSC under the first Trump administration and the Biden administration in several roles, including at one point as China director.

In 2021 she won an American Foreign Service Association award for "constructive dissent" for her work in countering Chinese influence at the United Nations. She lobbied for alternatives to China's candidates during elections for the heads of two U.N. agencies, the awards website said.

Former Senator David Perdue was nominated by Trump in December to be the U.S. envoy to China. Trump highlighted Perdue's extensive business experience in Asia as an asset in managing current tensions in the relationship.

Perdue, a Republican from Georgia who served in the Senate from 2015-2021, previously lived in Hong Kong during a 40-year career as a business executive.

Democrats have complained that he relied on outsourcing American manufacturing jobs to Asia in his business career, a practice Trump has vowed to end.

Members of the U.S. Senate can decide to fast-track an ambassadorial nomination, but the process can sometimes be delayed due to political reasons. No date has been set for Perdue's confirmation hearing.

According to the website of the U.S. Embassy and Consulates in China, the Beijing embassy complex houses more than 1,300 American and locally hired staff representing almost 50 different U.S. federal agencies.

(Reporting by Laurie Chen and Antoni Slodkowski in Beijing; Additional reporting by Michael Martina in Washington: Editing by Neil Fullick)