Zhang Yesui, currently the head of China's United Nations mission, will become the country's new ambassador to the U.S., putting a non-U.S. specialist in the post amid rising bilateral tensions. Mr. Zhang, 56 , will take over the position in mid-March, said people familiar with the situation, replacing Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong, who spent much of his career focused on American affairs.
Mr. Zhang has spent much of his career dealing with international issues and isn't widely known in Washington. People who have dealt with him describe him as a sophisticated, nuanced diplomat who has effectively represented China's interests at the U.N.
Before his appointment to head China's U.N. mission in 2008, Mr. Zhang served as a vice minister for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, where his portfolio included arms control and disarmament, as well as policy planning and oversight of Europe and North America.
He did a previous stint at China's U.N. mission from 1988 to 1992, and served as a diplomat in its embassy in the U.K., where he studied at the London School of Economics. His wife, Chen Naiqing, is a former ambassador to Norway who also had served as an envoy on Korean affairs. (Source: Kathy Chen, Wall Street Journal, Feb 18, 2010).