China’s new ambassador to the United States arrives in New York – state media

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s new ambassador to the United States Xie Feng arrived in New York on Tuesday to take up his duties, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Xie was most recently vice foreign minister and in this post has been involved in high-profile diplomatic spats with Washington that have driven relations between the two superpowers to historic lows.

In February, Xie lodged stern representations with the U.S. embassy in China after the United States destroyed what it alleged was a spy balloon but which Beijing described as a Chinese civilian airship that had accidentally been blown into U.S. airspace.

(Reporting by Eduardo Baptista and Ella Cao, Editing by Nick Zieminski)