Critical resignation in the United States

On Friday, the US Deputy Secretary of State and the architect of Chinese policy, Wendy Sherman, announced her decision to retire at the end of next month, thus ending a busy career that lasted three decades, during which she became one of the most prominent diplomatic figures in complex negotiation files with countries such as China, Iran and North Korea.

The current minister, Anthony Blinken, praised his deputy, who ranks second in US diplomacy, especially for her role in Asian files and uniting allies behind Ukraine. He said, "It has deepened our relations with our friends around the world, particularly in the Republic of Korea, Japan and the European Union. It has supervised our efforts to enhance the ministry's capabilities to manage our relationship with China, and has established greater rapprochement with allies and partners."

Biden and China

Since President Joe Biden took office in 2021, US relations with China have taken new depths. Over the years, Sherman has undertaken a series of complex diplomatic missions. After President Joe Biden assumed office at the beginning of 2021, she traveled to China, where she held tense but quiet discussions on various files that are at the heart of the competition between the two largest economic powers in the world.

For the past two years, the Pentagon has ordered the near-constant passage of US warships through the disputed Taiwan Strait, and then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taipei in 2022 led to unprecedented Chinese military exercises in the airspace and waters around the island.

Additional war games were held after a Taiwanese leader visited the United States earlier this year.

However, as Sherman prepares to leave the State Department for good, there seem to be signs of renewed diplomacy with China.

Earlier this week, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan had an unannounced round of talks with a senior Chinese Foreign Ministry official, the highest level of contact between the two countries since Biden met his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, last November.