New foreign minister to continue supporting growth of China-US ties

Qin Gang, China's ambassador to the United States and newly named foreign minister, said on Tuesday that he was "deeply impressed" by hard-working, friendly and talented American people, and will "continue to care about and support the growth of China-US relations".

The envoy made the comments on his Twitter account as he bade farewell to people in various sectors of the United States and embarked on his new position as China's new foreign minister.

Qin began serving as China's 11th ambassador to the US in July 2021, vowing to "build bridges of communication and cooperation with all sectors of the United States" and to help put China-US relations back on track.

"In the past 500+ days, I have visited 22 states. I went to government agencies, Congress, think tanks, enterprises, factories, ports, farms, schools and sport fields, and made many friends across the US," he tweeted.

"I have been deeply impressed by so many hard-working, friendly and talented American people that I met," he added.

Qin, 56, becomes the third Chinese ambassador to the US to lead the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, following Li Zhaoxing and Yang Jiechi, who assumed the ambassadorial post in Washington in 1998 and 2001, respectively.

"Going forward, I will continue to care about and support the growth of China-US relations, encourage dialogue, mutual understanding and affinity between the two peoples, work for mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation between our two countries, and make my due efforts for the wellbeing of the two peoples and for world peace, stability and development," he wrote.