The appointment of Yang Jiechi as China's new foreign minister
comes as no surprise to the people who have worked with or known
him for years.
A career diplomat with three overseas postings to his name - all
in the United States, starting as second secretary to the Chinese
ambassador - 57-year-old Yang has impressed many with his broad
knowledge, mastery of the English language and persuasiveness.
Jeff Bader, director of the John L Thornton China Center and a
senior fellow of foreign policy studies at the Brookings
Institution in Washington DC , first got to know Yang in the 1980s,
when Yang worked in the US capital as second secretary, first
secretary and then counselor at the Chinese Embassy.
"I recall him at the time as a highly skilled, knowledgeable and
professional diplomat who was an especially eloquent and persuasive
spokesman and representative for his government," Bader told
China Daily.
"His extraordinary ability in the English language also made him
a standout among foreign diplomats in Washington," Bader said.
David Shambaugh, a professor of political science and
international affairs and director of the China Policy Program at
the George Washington University, told China Daily: "He is
personally very suave, articulate and persuasive.
"His knowledge of our country is deep and sophisticated, and he
has an extraordinary range of contacts throughout American
society."
John Hamre, president and CEO of the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, recalled inviting Yang to speak to his board
of trustees.
"He knew virtually all of my board members personally from
extensive prior experiences - Henry Kissinger, Zbig Brzezinski, Jim
Schlesinger, Carla Hills," Hamre said. "They had all worked with
him for years."
Yang's third tenure in Washington DC began in January 2001, as
the youngest Chinese ambassador to the US since the two countries
normalized diplomatic relations. Before he was well settled, a US
Navy spy plane collided with a Chinese jet fighter, killing the
Chinese pilot and having to make a forced landing in China's island
province of Hainan.
Soon after, the Bush administration announced its missile
defense project and its plan to sell arms to Taiwan. It also raised
the issue of China's record on human rights at the annual session
of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.
"But if anyone is well placed to handle the tough relationship,
Yang is," the US National Public Radio said in a broadcast in July
of the same year.
"Yang Jiechi understood that his job had two objectives: to
faithfully represent his government's position, and at the same
time to be a good listener and to make friends for China by showing
understanding of what others had to say about its policies," Bader,
who was then assistant US trade representative handling
negotiations on China's accession to the World Trade Organization,
recalled.
"He quickly persuaded the Americans he dealt with that he was
superb at both requirements of his job," he said.
Shirley Young, a former president of Committee of 100, said in a
telephone interview with China Daily: "He knows how to
humanize the relationship, which is important in communication and
dealing with difficulties.
"He is open-minded and willing to look from the other person's
side as well," she said.
Bader said: "Along with Ambassador Robert Zoellick, we worked
with Ambassador Yang to clear away obstacles to US endorsement of
China's accession (to WTO in 2001) and the US granting permanent
normal trade relations to China."
In 2004, the Los Angeles World Affairs Council presented Yang
with the Diplomat of the Year Award, in recognition of "the
outstanding record of Yang Jiechi in his various assignments during
his time in the (Chinese) Foreign Ministry, and his efforts in
Washington to broaden and strengthen Sino-US relations," J Curtis
Mack, II, president of Los Angeles World Affairs Council, told
China Daily.
He said the committee unanimously voted to recognize Ambassador
Yang with the award and also to mark China "as a very important
player and partner on the world stage".
Apart from his skilful handling of political as well as economic
and business affairs, Yang displayed his familiarity with art and
culture. He is also known as an accomplished calligrapher,
Shambaugh said.
Shambaugh especially remembers the classical music concerts Yang
hosted in his residence, which is "not only unprecedented among
Chinese ambassadors, but very unusual in the diplomat corps," he
said.
Coming from a diplomatic family herself, Young especially took
heart that the former Chinese ambassador knows how important
culture is in achieving cross-cultural understanding.
Yang helped initiated the Festival of China at the Kennedy
Center for Performing Arts in Washington DC in 2005, which was a
major cultural event in helping Americans learn more about China
through a series of cultural performances and exhibitions.
"He is able to go beyond politics to seek cultural and
people-to-people communications," she said.
"So he is easy to relate to and people easily find his
explanations (about China's standpoint) more acceptable."
Yang was being groomed for a career as a diplomat when he was
chosen to join the first class of Shanghai Foreign Language School
(SFLS) in 1963, after standing out from his fellow primary school
graduates.
The school was founded under the tutelage of late Chinese
Premier Zhou Enlai, as "a cradle for New China's talents in
diplomacy and foreign languages", as SFLS proudly announced on its
website.
However, the road ahead was bumpy. When the "cultural
revolution" (1966-76) broke out, Yang and his classmates suddenly
discovered they were no different from their peers in other regular
middle schools.
In 1968, he was assigned to work in the Shanghai Pujiang
Electric Meter Factory as an apprentice.
But his teachers did not forget him.
With Henry Kissinger's secret mission to China and China's
resumption of its lawful seat at the United Nations in 1971, the
country was about to engage in a new wave of diplomacy with the
outside world.
The foreign ministry screened graduates from the leading
language schools in the country and recruited a batch of young
people with impressive academic achievements.
Yang was again chosen. In 1973, he was sent to further his study
in English and world affairs at the London School of Economics in
Britain, where he studied for two years.
On his return, Yang worked in the department of translation and
interpretation, where the best young language graduates usually
gathered to start their ascent of the diplomatic career ladder.
"Yang brings special knowledge of China's relationship with the
US in all its dimensions, including with the business sector and
Congress, so American policymakers would be comfortable that he
would understand how to keep the US-China relationship on an even
keel," Bader said.
(China Daily April 28, 2007)