United States Ambassador to China

Ambassador of the United States to the People's Republic of China 美国驻华大使
Seal of the United States Department of State
Incumbent Gary Locke since August 1, 2011
Residence	Beijing
Nominator	Barack Obama as President of the United States
Inaugural holder	Leonard Woodcock
Formation	March 1, 1979
Website	U.S. Embassy - Beijing

The United States Ambassador to China (traditional Chinese: 美國駐華大使; simplified Chinese: 美国驻华大使; pinyin: Měiguó Zhùhuá dàshǐ) is the chief American diplomat to People's Republic of China (PRC). The United States has sent diplomatic representatives to China since 1844, when Caleb Cushing, as Commissioner, negotiated the Treaty of Wanghia. Commissioners represented the United States in China from 1844 to 1857. Until 1898, the Qing Empire did not have a system in place for the Emperor to accept the Letters of Credence of foreign representatives. From 1858 to 1935, the U.S. representative in China was formally Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to China. The American legation in Nanjing was upgraded to an Embassy in 1935 and the Envoy was promoted to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.

During the republican era, the U.S. recognized the Beiyang Government in Beijing from 1912 to 1928 and the Nationalist Government in Nanjing (and Chongqing from 1937 to 1945) from 1928 onwards. After the Communist People's Republic of China was established in mainland China in 1949 and the Kuomintang moved the Republic of China government from Nanjing to Taipei, Taiwan, the U.S. continued to recognize the Republic of China as the legitimate Chinese government and maintained its embassy in Taiwan. However, in 1973, the U.S. established a Liaison Office in Beijing to represent its interests in mainland China. In 1976, the Chief of the Liaison Office was promoted to the rank of Ambassador. In December 1978, the U.S. severed official relations with the Republic of China and in January 1979, established formal relations with the People's Republic of China. The U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing was upgraded to an embassy on March 1, 1979. The American Institute in Taiwan was established in 1979 to serve as the unofficial U.S. representative to Taiwan, with the director of its Taipei Office taking the role of a de facto ambassador. Jon M. Huntsman, Jr. served as U.S. Ambassador to China from 2009 until April 30, 2011. On March 7, 2011, President Obama announced his intention to nominate Commerce Secretary Gary Locke as Huntsman's replacement. Locke's nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate on July 27, 2011 by unanimous consent.

Chronology

Representation is as follows (years refer to dates of actual service):

Qing Empire:

• Commissioner to the Great Qing Empire: 1843 to 1857
• Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Great Qing Empire: 1858 to 1912

Republic of China:

• Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republic of China: 1913 to 1935
• Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of China: 1935 to 1979
• Director of the Taipei Office of the American Institute in Taiwan: 1979 to present

People's Republic of China

• Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office in the People's Republic of China: 1973 to 1979
• Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the People's Republic of China: 1979 to present

List of Envoys to the Qing Empire

Name	Home State	Appointed	Terminated
Caleb Cushing	Massachusetts	May 8, 1843	August 27, 1844
Alexander Hill Everett	Massachusetts	March 13, 1845	June 28, 1847
John W. Davis	Indiana	January 3, 1848	May 25, 1850
Humphrey Marshall	Kentucky	August 4, 1852	January 27, 1854
Robert Milligan McLane	Maryland	October 18, 1853	December 12, 1854
Peter Parker	Massachusetts	August 16, 1855	August 25, 1857
William B. Reed	Pennsylvania	April 18, 1857	November 11, 1858
John E. Ward	Georgia	December 15, 1858	December 15, 1860
Anson Burlingame	Massachusetts	June 14, 1861	November 21, 1867
John Ross Browne	California	March 11, 1868	July 5, 1869
Frederick F. Low	California	September 28, 1869	July 24, 1873
Benjamin Avery	California	April 10, 1874	November 8, 1875
George Seward	California	January 7, 1876	August 16, 1880
James Burrill Angell	Michigan	April 9, 1880	October 4, 1881
John Russell Young	New York	March 15, 1882	April 7, 1885
Charles Harvey Denby	Indiana	May 29, 1885	July 8, 1898
Edwin H. Conger	Iowa	July 8, 1898	April 4, 1905
William Woodville Rockhill	District of Columbia	March 8, 1905	June 1, 1909
William James Calhoun	Illinois	December 21, 1909	February 16, 1913[1]

List of Envoys to the Republic of China

Name	Home State	Appointed	Terminated
Paul Reinsch	Wisconsin	August 15, 1913	September 15, 1919
Charles R. Crane	Illinois	March 22, 1920	July 2, 1921
Jacob Gould Schurman	New York	June 2, 1921	April 15, 1925
John MacMurray	New Jersey	April 9, 1925	November 22, 1929[2]

List of Ambassadors to the Republic of China

Name	Home State	Appointed	Terminated
Nelson T. Johnson	Oklahoma	December 16, 1929	May 14, 1941
Clarence E. Gauss	Connecticut	February 11, 1941	November 14, 1944
Patrick J. Hurley	Oklahoma	November 30, 1944	September 22, 1945
John Leighton Stuart	New York	July 12, 1946	August 2, 1949

The Communists took the Nationalist capital of Nanjing in April 1949, but Stuart was not recalled from China until August 1949. The United States did not recognize the new government of the People's Republic of China upon its founding in October 1949. The Consulate in Taipei was upgraded to an embassy in 1953, and therefore the Ambassador to China maintained residence at Taipei, Taiwan, in the Republic of China until relations were severed in 1979. (See: Former American Consulate in Taipei)

Name	Home State	Appointed	Terminated
Karl L. Rankin	Maine	February 27, 1953	December 30, 1957
Everett Drumright	Oklahoma	February 17, 1958	March 8, 1962
Alan G. Kirk	New York	June 7, 1962	January 18, 1963
Jerauld Wright	District of Columbia	May 3, 1963	July 25, 1965
Walter McConaughy	Alabama	June 16, 1966	April 4, 1974
Leonard S. Unger	Maryland	March 14, 1974	January 19, 1979

For a list of de facto U.S. Ambassadors to Taiwan since 1979, see list of AIT Directors at American Institute in Taiwan.

List of chiefs of the U.S. Liaison Office in Beijing

Between May 1973 and March 1979 prior to the official establishment of diplomatic relations, the United States dispatched a head of U.S. Liaison Office in Peking (now Beijing).

Name	Home State	Appointed	Terminated
David K. E. Bruce	Virginia	March 15, 1973	September 25, 1974
George H. W. Bush	Texas	September 26, 1974	December 7, 1975
Thomas S. Gates, Jr.	Pennsylvania	April 14, 1976	May 8, 1977
Leonard Woodcock	Michigan	July 11, 1977	March 1, 1979[3]

List of Ambassadors to the People's Republic of China

The United States established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, and terminated them with the Republic of China, on January 1, 1979. The American Embassy at Taipei closed February 28, 1979, while the American Liaison Office at Beijing was redesignated the American Embassy on March 1, 1979.

Name	Home State	Appointed	Terminated
Leonard Woodcock	Michigan	February 27, 1979	February 13, 1981
Arthur W. Hummel, Jr.	Maryland	July 30, 1981	September 24, 1985
Winston Lord	New York	November 6, 1985	April 23, 1989
James Lilley	Maryland	April 20, 1989	May 10, 1991
J. Stapleton Roy	Pennsylvania	July 2, 1991	June 17, 1995
Jim Sasser	Tennessee	February 14, 1996	July 1, 1999
Joseph Prueher	Tennessee	November 16, 1999	May 1, 2001
Clark T. Randt, Jr.	Connecticut	July 12, 2001	January 20, 2009
Jon M. Huntsman, Jr.	Utah	August 11, 2009	April 30, 2011
Gary Locke	Washington	August 1, 2011

Notes

1. ^ Diplomatic relations with China interrupted on February 12, 1912 upon the abdication of Puyi.
2. ^ Diplomatic relations with Beijing's Beiyang government terminated and recognition given to Nanjing's National Government on October 1, 1928.
3. ^ Upon normalization of diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, Leonard Woodcock was promoted from Liaison to Ambassador in the new Embassy.

See also

• China – United States relations
• Foreign relations of China
• Ambassadors of the United States

References

• United States Department of State: Background notes on China
•  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Department of State (Background Notes).

External links

• United States Department of State: Chiefs of Mission for China
• United States Department of State: China
• United States Embassy in Beijing