The United States ambassador to China is the chief United States diplomat to the People's Republic of China. The United States has sent diplomatic representatives to China since 1844, when Caleb Cushing, as commissioner, negotiated the Treaty of Wanghia. Commissioners represented the United States in China from 1844 to 1857. Until 1898, China did not have a system in place for the Emperor to accept the Letters of Credence of foreign representatives. From 1858 to 1935, the United States representative in China was formally Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to China. The American legation in Nanjing was upgraded to an embassy in 1935 and the Envoy was promoted to Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary.
During the republican era, the United States recognized the Beiyang Government in Beijing from 1912 to 1928 and the Nationalist Government in Nanjing (and Chongqing from 1937 to 1945) from 1928 onwards. After the Communist Party established the People's Republic of China in mainland China in 1949 and the Kuomintang moved the Republic of China government from Nanjing to Taipei of Taiwan, the United States continued to recognize the Republic of China as the legitimate Chinese government and maintained its embassy in Taiwan. However, in 1973, the United States established a Liaison Office in Beijing to represent its interests in mainland China. In 1976, the Chief of the Liaison Office was promoted to the rank of ambassador. In December 1978, the United States severed official relations with the Republic of China and in January 1979, established formal relations with the People's Republic of China. The United States Liaison Office in Beijing was upgraded to an embassy on March 1, 1979. The American Institute in Taiwan was established in 1979 to serve as the unofficial United States representative to Taiwan, with the director of its Taipei Office taking the role of a de facto ambassador.
Chronology Representation is as follows (years refer to dates of actual service):
Qing Empire: Commissioner to the Great Qing: 1843 to 1857 Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary: 1858 to 1912 Republic of China: Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Republic of China: 1913 to 1935 Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of China: 1935 to 1979 Director of the Taipei Office of the American Institute in Taiwan: 1979 to present People's Republic of China: Chief of the United States Liaison Office in the People's Republic of China: 1973 to 1979 Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the People's Republic of China: since 1979
List of envoys to the Qing Empire NamePortraitHome statePresented credentialsTerminatedCaleb CushingMassachusettsJune 12, 1844August 27, 1844Alexander Hill EverettMassachusettsOctober 26, 1846June 28, 1847John W. DavisIndianaOctober 6, 1848May 25, 1850Humphrey MarshallKentuckyJuly 4, 1853January 27, 1854Robert Milligan McLaneMarylandNovember 3, 1854December 12, 1854Peter ParkerMassachusettsJuly 15, 1856August 25, 1857William B. ReedPennsylvaniaMay 3, 1858November 11, 1858John Elliott WardGeorgiaAugust 10, 1859December 15, 1860Anson BurlingameMassachusettsAugust 20, 1862November 21, 1867John Ross BrowneCaliforniaOctober 28, 1868July 5, 1869Frederick LowCaliforniaApril 27, 1870July 24, 1873Benjamin AveryCaliforniaNovember 29, 1874November 8, 1875George SewardCaliforniaApril 24, 1876August 16, 1880James Burrill AngellMichiganAugust 16, 1880October 4, 1881John Russell YoungNew YorkAugust 17, 1882April 7, 1885Charles Harvey DenbyIndianaOctober 1, 1885July 8, 1898Edwin H. CongerIowaJuly 8, 1898April 4, 1905William Woodville RockhillDistrict of ColumbiaJune 17, 1905June 1, 1909William J. CalhounIllinoisApril 21, 1910February 26, 1913
List of envoys to the Republic of China NamePortraitHome statePresented credentialsTerminatedWilliam J. CalhounIllinoisApril 21, 1910February 26, 1913Paul Samuel ReinschWisconsinNovember 15, 1913September 15, 1919Charles Richard CraneIllinoisJune 12, 1920July 2, 1921Jacob Gould SchurmanNew YorkSeptember 12, 1921April 15, 1925John Van Antwerp MacMurrayNew JerseyJuly 15, 1925November 22, 1929Nelson T. JohnsonOklahomaFebruary 1, 1930September 17, 1935George MarshallVirginiaDecember 20, 1945January 1947
List of ambassadors to the Republic of China NamePortraitBirthplacePresented credentialsTerminatedNelson T. JohnsonOklahomaSeptember 17, 1935May 14, 1941Clarence E. GaussConnecticutMay 26, 1941November 14, 1944Patrick J. HurleyOklahomaJanuary 8, 1945September 22, 1945John Leighton StuartChekiangJuly 19, 1946August 2, 1949 The Communists took the Nationalist capital of Nanjing in April 1949, but Stuart was not recalled from China until August 1949. The United States did not recognize the new government of the People's Republic of China upon its founding in October 1949. The Consulate in Taipei was upgraded to an embassy in 1953, and therefore the Ambassador to China maintained residence at Taipei, Taiwan, in the Republic of China until relations were severed in 1979. (See: Former American Consulate in Taipei)
NamePortrait Home statePresented credentialsTerminatedKarl L. RankinMaineApril 2, 1953December 30, 1957Everett F. DrumrightOklahomaMarch 8, 1958March 8, 1962Alan G. KirkNew YorkJuly 5, 1962January 18, 1963Jerauld WrightDistrict of ColumbiaJune 29, 1963July 25, 1965Walter P. McConaughy AlabamaJune 28, 1966April 4, 1974Leonard S. UngerMarylandMay 25, 1974January 19, 1979
For a list of de facto United States ambassadors to Republic of China since 1979, see list of Directors of the American Institute in Taiwan.
List of chiefs of the United States Liaison Office in Beijing Between May 1973 and March 1979 prior to the official establishment of diplomatic relations, the United States dispatched a head of United States Liaison Office in Beijing.
NamePortrait Home statePresented credentialsTerminatedDavid K. E. BruceVirginiaMay 14, 1973September 25, 1974 George H. W. BushTexasSeptember 26, 1974December 7, 1975Thomas S. Gates Jr.PennsylvaniaMay 6, 1976May 8, 1977Leonard WoodcockMichiganJuly 26, 1977March 7, 1979
List of ambassadors to the People's Republic of China The United States established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China, and terminated them with the Republic of China, on January 1, 1979. The American Embassy at Taipei closed February 28, 1979, while the American Liaison Office at Beijing was redesignated the American Embassy on March 1, 1979. NamePortrait Home statePresented credentialsTerminatedLeonard WoodcockMichiganMarch 7, 1979February 13, 1981Arthur W. Hummel Jr.MarylandSeptember 24, 1981September 24, 1985Winston LordNew YorkNovember 19, 1985April 23, 1989James LilleyMarylandMay 8, 1989May 10, 1991J. Stapleton RoyPennsylvaniaAugust 20, 1991June 17, 1995Jim SasserTennesseeFebruary 14, 1996July 1, 1999Joseph PrueherTennesseeDecember 15, 1999May 1, 2001Clark RandtConnecticutJuly 28, 2001January 20, 2009Jon Huntsman Jr.UtahAugust 28, 2009April 30, 2011Gary LockeWashingtonAugust 16, 2011February 21, 2014Max BaucusMontanaMarch 20, 2014January 16, 2017Terry E. BranstadIowaJuly 12, 2017October 4, 2020R. Nicholas BurnsMassachusettsApril 1, 2022January 18, 2025David PerdueGeorgiaMay 16, 2025present
See also Embassy of the United States, Beijing China–United States relations Foreign relations of China Ambassadors of the United States Americans in China
Notes
References Citations
Sources
United States Department of State: Background notes on China
External links United States Department of State: Chiefs of Mission for China United States Department of State: China United States Embassy in Beijing