Beijing: Based on the tweet made on Monday by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, there are signs that US Ambassador to China Terry Branstad is leaving his post. Pompeo thanked Ambassador Branstad on Twitter for his service for more than three years. However, this could not be immediately confirmed by the US State Department.
Pompeo wrote, “Ambassador Branstad has contributed to reviving US-China relations so that it is result-oriented, mutual and fair.” Branstad got into a controversy when China’s official newspaper ‘People’s Daily’ rejected the article (column) he had given. Pompeo tweeted last week that China’s ruling Communist Party refused to publish Branstad’s article, while the Chinese ambassador to the US is “free to publish in any US media outlet.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in response that Branstad’s article was “full of flaws, seriously inconsistent with the facts and seemed to be attacking China.”
