After Xi Jinping came to power, he made personnel changes to the CCP’s diplomatic system, partially breaking up Jiang’s layout in the diplomatic system. The picture shows Beijing on March 28.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has been labeled an “independent kingdom,” has previously been dominated by Jiang’s faction. After Xi Jinping came to power, he made personnel changes in the diplomatic system, partially dismantling Jiang’s position in the foreign affairs system.
Yang Jiechi, a former Jiang faction official, has tended to harden his diplomatic style at Xi’s request. Some analysts believe that one of the reasons for Yang’s move is for self-preservation.
Zhang Yesui failed to take over Yang Jiechi’s class Analysis: Xi partially broke Jiang’s layout in the diplomatic system
In 2012, when then-Communist Party General Secretary Hu Jintao handed over power to Xi Jinping, former General Secretary Jiang Zemin’s installed staff was still in control of the diplomatic field. Former Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui was accused of being one of Jiang’s pawns.
Zhang Yesui, born in 1953, was a longtime member of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, serving as ambassador to the U.S. from 2009 to 2012, when he became the top-ranked vice minister.
Overseas Chinese media quoted informed sources as saying before 2013 that Zhang Yesui’s career was “bright” and that he was a candidate for the future foreign minister or the future head of the Foreign Affairs Office. The source stressed that Zhang Yesui was an important pawn in Jiang’s diplomatic staffing pattern for Xi.
The report said that Jiang Zemin had been interested in cultivating Zhang Yesui for a long time, and that he was “well received” by Jiang Zemin’s delegation to Hong Kong during the 1997 handover when he served as the concierge of the Foreign Ministry. He invited Zhang Yesui to accompany him.
In March 2013, Wang Yi, who had left the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for five years, unexpectedly replaced Yang Jiechi as foreign minister, a rare arrangement. Yang Jiechi became a state councilor and director of the Foreign Affairs Office.
Since then, Zhang Yesui, who failed to take over as the CCP’s foreign minister, is still only the deputy foreign minister until his retirement in 2019. Zhang is now the spokesperson of the National People’s Congress (NPC).
Zhang Yesui, spokesman of the Communist Party’s National People’s Congress.
Current affairs commentator Li Linyi said that from 1993 to 2013, successive foreign ministers Qian Qichen, Tang Jiaxuan, Li Zhaoxing and Yang Jiechi were all Jiang factions. Zhang Yesui moved on to become the spokesman of the Communist Party’s National People’s Congress in 2018 and finally retired. At this point, it can be seen as Xi breaking Jiang’s arrangement. The CPC has always attached importance to its relations with the United States, and it is clear that Xi intends to suppress Jiang’s faction by promoting a “Japanese-speaker” and Wang Yi, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office, to foreign minister, but not Zhang Yesui, who has experience as ambassador to the United States.
According to Li Linyi, there is also a part of Xi’s compromise. For example, Yang Jiechi was promoted from the post of foreign minister to become a state councilor. But Xi’s decision to let Wang Yi take over as foreign minister interrupts the Jiang faction’s follow-up arrangements in the Foreign Ministry, and it is clear that the Jiang faction will become weaker and weaker in the Foreign Ministry in the future.
Yang Jiechi’s U.S. speech in 2016 was “incredibly condescending”
After becoming foreign minister, Wang Yi has been a high-profile activist since 2013. Compared to Wang Yi, Yang Jiechi has a much lower profile.
A story last year showed that Yang Jiechi had become diplomatically arrogant, at least starting in 2016.
On Nov. 8, 2016, Donald Trump was elected as the new president of the United States. On Dec. 2 of the same year, Trump took a congratulatory phone call from Tsai Ing-wen. This not only drew “serious representations” from the Chinese Communist Party, but also broke 40 years of U.S. practice. After the incident, the CPC sent CPC State Councilor Yang Jiechi to the United States to negotiate with Trump’s team.
At the time, Yang Jiechi made a surprise side trip to the U.S. on his way to Mexico (December 11-12, 2016.) On December 9 and 10, Yang Jiechi met with Trump’s team in New York.
During the two-day meeting, Yang Jiechi first said in an off-the-record speech that “China’s territorial integrity and sovereignty cannot be questioned,” according to a description in the book Superpower Showdown, published in 2020. After a short break, Yang repeated his speech almost word for word. This time it was read from a script.
Bannon, then the White House chief strategist, interpreted Young’s move as a way for Young to tell his superiors in Beijing that he had delivered a formal message. “(It’s) obvious how mad they were (that’s how),” Bannon said.
While Trump’s subordinates listened respectfully, Bannon found Young’s message “incredibly condescending. Cui Tiankai recalled that Trump’s subordinates listened carefully to the Chinese Communist Party officials at that time.
Bannon, then White House chief strategist.
The day after the meeting, Trump’s comments caused another uproar, saying on Fox News Channel on Dec. 11 that he understood the “one-China” principle that includes Taiwan, but he said, “I don’t know why we have to be bound by the one-China policy unless we reach an agreement with China (the Chinese Communist Party) that has to involve other things, including trade.”
Trump’s message was directed at Beijing: “I don’t want China (the Chinese Communist Party) to give me orders.”
Yang Jiechi turns into a war wolf Analysis: the legacy of Xi-Jiang fighting diplomacy
Some Japanese media have questioned that Yang does not have the absolute trust of Xi.
The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on March 1 of this year that Xi had expected Yang Jiechi to build a fruitful relationship with the Trump administration. But he may not have lived up to Xi’s expectations. He has made fewer diplomatic appearances after the trade war with the Trump administration intensified in the spring of 2018. Some experts say the gulf has widened between Xi and Yang, who is considered close to former Communist Party chief Jiang Zemin.
Since Wang Yi became CCP foreign minister, he has made more trips and public appearances around the world than Yang Jiechi, the report said. This shows that Xi Jinping has confidence in Wang Yi.
Chinese Communist Party Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Reuters reported on March 31 last year, citing two diplomats from the Chinese Foreign Ministry who confirmed that the ministry had become hawkish because of Xi Jinping’s personal style. Xi’s handwritten note to diplomats in 2019 called for a tougher stance and a “spirit of struggle” in the face of international challenges, such as the deterioration of U.S.-China relations.
According to Li Linyi, the change of Yang Jiechi’s diplomatic style from soft to hard and even arrogant can also be regarded as a self-preservation action in a crisis, which can be said to be a legacy of Xi and Jiang’s struggle in the diplomatic field to some extent. Since Xi demands a “struggle” with the U.S., Yang needs to be tougher than other diplomats so that he, who comes from a Jiang faction, can gain Xi’s trust.
Pompeo’s talks with Yang Jiechi in 2020 are “tense”
U.S.-China relations have deteriorated with the outbreak of the Chinese Communist Party virus in the United States in 2020.
On June 17, 2020, former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Yang Jiechi in Hawaii. The Wall Street Journal described the meeting as a “saber-rattling”.
According to the paper, Yang expressed China’s “strong dissatisfaction” with a bill previously signed by Trump. The bill calls for sanctions against Communist Party officials and entities believed to be responsible for the mass detention of Uighurs in Xinjiang.
While Yang Jiechi reiterated his government’s commitment to enforcing the trade deal, he stressed the need for cooperation between the U.S. and China, the newspaper said, citing people familiar with the talks. A Chinese Communist Party official said this means the U.S. side should avoid interfering too much. The official added that red lines should not be crossed.
People with inside knowledge of the meeting said Pompeo did not make any concessions. During an appearance at a forum in Copenhagen, Pompeo said, “The United States is responding to the Chinese Communist Party and provocations in a way that it has not done in the last 20 years.”
Then-U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo.
Details of U.S.-China High-Level Closed-Door Meeting: Yang Jiechi Welcomes Blinken to Beijing
On March 18, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met with Yang Jiechi, Director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the CPC Central Committee, and State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Alaska for the first 2+2 meeting since Biden took office.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
The meeting began with what was scheduled to be a brief opening statement between the U.S. and China, which turned into a brawl that lasted more than an hour. Yang Jiechi’s 17-minute speech was seriously overtime, and he even said “the Chinese don’t eat this” and “have we suffered more from the foreigners? These words are not suitable for diplomatic occasions.
After the talks, many media analyzed that Yang Jiechi’s anti-US toughness in Alaska was actually for the domestic public to see.
The Financial Times reported some details of the closed-door meeting.
U.S. officials said that after the public “drama”, the U.S. and China had a more cordial discussion in private. Toward the end of the Alaska meeting, Yang Jiechi told Blinken and Sullivan that they were welcome to come to Beijing for more discussions. According to sources, Blinken leaned over the table and said “thank you,” which prompted a discussion on the Chinese side about whether the U.S. side had accepted the invitation.
After a period of discussion on the Chinese side, Yang Jiechi asked Blinken what “thank you” meant and whether Blinken’s words meant that the U.S. negotiators were prepared to have follow-up discussions in Beijing.
Blinken replied, “Thank you means thank you. Thank you means thank you”. The paper interpreted Blinken as signaling to Yang and Wang that the current answer was “no.”
Li Linyi said that it was also clear from the Alaska talks that Yang Jiechi finally welcomed Blinken and Sullivan to Beijing in a closed-door meeting. From this, it is clear that Yang is not really tough, but is executing high-level instructions and “acting”.
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