China’s new ambassador arrived in the US yesterday, Tuesday, and pledged to take “the heavy responsibility” of managing “the serious challenges” facing relations between the two countries.

Xie Feng, a career diplomat who already has long experience in Washington, arrived in New York yesterday, the Chinese embassy said. He replaced Qin Gang who stepped down as ambassador to become China’s foreign minister.

“Right now, Sino-US relations are facing difficulties and serious challenges,” Xie told reporters from the airport.

“I feel both a huge sense of duty and a heavy responsibility. My colleagues and I will face difficulties, assume our responsibilities and live up to our mission,” he added.

The US ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, hosted a “farewell dinner” for Xie before his departure, he wrote in a Twitter post, in which he spoke of the “always difficult relationship between the US and China”. . “I look forward to working with him in his new position,” Burns added.

According to his official biography, the 59-year-old Xie is from Jiangsu province and was previously the deputy foreign minister and the ministry’s representative in Hong Kong. He has been with the State Department since at least 1986 and for a long time worked in the office of North American Affairs. In the early 2000s, he worked at the Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., before taking up the post of ambassador to Indonesia.

Relations between China and the US have deteriorated in recent years due to tension in the areas of trade, technology, human rights, and also because of Taiwan.