Letters and Blogs

Correction on US ambassadors

In your August 6 article concerning new American ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, China Institute of Contemporary International Relations expert Niu Xinchun is quoted as saying Mr Huntsman is "probably the first ambassador to China who can speak fluent Chinese."

In fact, Mr Hunstman is the fifth US ambassador to be fluent in Chinese since the US and China established diplomatic relations in 1979. Former ambassadors Arthur Hummel Jr., James R. Lilley, J. Stapleton Roy, and Clark T. Randt were all fluent in Chinese and three of them (Hummel, Lilley, and Roy) were born and spent their childhoods in China.