Li Chenggang, China's International Trade Representative and Vice Minister of Commerce. EPA Yonhap News. 

The Chinese government has removed Li Chenggang, its International Trade Representative (ministerial level) and Vice Minister of Commerce—a key figure in trade negotiations with the U.S.—from his concurrent role as Ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

According to China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency on the 20th, President Xi Jinping announced changes to heads of diplomatic missions, including the replacement of ambassadors to seven countries such as Morocco and Romania, following a decision by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Li Yongjie, who previously served as Deputy Ambassador to the WTO, has been appointed as the new WTO Ambassador.

Li Chenggang will retain his positions as International Trade Representative and Vice Minister of Commerce.

Li was appointed as the trade representative in April, succeeding former Vice Minister Wang Shouwen, during a period when U.S.-China tensions were peaking due to the tariff war. He had served as WTO Ambassador since 2021 and had been holding the position concurrently until this recent change.

Since his promotion to International Trade Representative, he has played a central role alongside Vice Premier He Lifeng in four rounds of high-level U.S.-China trade negotiations.

He also drew attention during recent negotiations for his confrontational remarks toward the U.S.

During a press conference on the 15th (local time), U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent criticized Li, using the term "unhinged" to describe his behavior, claiming that Li had visited Washington D.C. in August without a U.S. invitation and displayed a rude and aggressive attitude.

In relation to this, the British Financial Times (FT), citing a senior U.S. official, reported that when Li visited Washington D.C. in August, he spoke in a "very heated state and very aggressive tone," threatening that the U.S. would face "hellfire" if things did not go his way.

While Secretary Bessent and Vice Premier He are expected to meet in Malaysia as early as this weekend, some have speculated that this personnel change might be linked to Bessent’s critical remarks.

However, considering that Li has served as WTO Ambassador for over four years and that diplomatic appointments must go through the National People's Congress Standing Committee, which meets every two months, it is widely believed that this decision was made before Bessent’s remarks and is intended to allow Li to focus more on his duties as trade representative.

The WTO also announced on its Weibo account on the 29th of last month that the new ambassador, Li Yongjie, had already submitted his credentials to WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry told AFP that this was "a routine personnel change" when asked if the appointment was related to Secretary Bessent’s remarks.

Yonhap News