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Exclusive | Top US envoy in Hong Kong may be headed for senior role in Beijing embassy

Gregory May, US consul general for Hong Kong and Macau, tipped for leading role over 1,300 people at Beijing embassy and mainland consulates

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Gregory May, who arrived to serve as the US consul general for Hong Kong and Macau in September 2022, is expected to be appointed second-in-command of the US embassy in Beijing. Photo: Sun Yeung
SCMP Reporter

The top US diplomat in Hong Kong is likely to be heading north to take up a leading role in the United States’ Beijing embassy, the South China Morning Post has learned.

Gregory May, who arrived to serve as the US consul general for Hong Kong and Macau in September 2022, is tipped to be a top candidate for a ministerial role in the US embassy in Beijing, according to sources.
It is a critical time in the relationship as Beijing and Washington engage in a series of high-stakes talks to manage their escalating trade and export control measures.

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The new American ambassador, David Perdue, assumed his post on May 15, just days after Beijing and Washington reached an unexpected truce in Geneva to de-escalate a trade war that had injected fear into the world’s financial markets.
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Sources said it was likely that May would serve as second-in-command in the US Beijing embassy as he sat next to Perdue in the new ambassador’s meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on June 3, indicating his rank within the US diplomatic establishment in China. This includes the 1,300-person embassy in Beijing and mainland consulates.

“His pragmatism, resourcefulness and vast experience covering mainland [China], Hong Kong and Taiwan made him a leading candidate for the role to assist ambassador Perdue,” said one source who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.

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A second source said that after several rounds of sanctions imposed from both sides, creating political exchanges in Hong Kong had become difficult, but May still managed to connect with various Hong Kong communities via outreach efforts and was “instrumental” in maintaining business, academic and other exchanges.

In April, Beijing’s foreign affairs representative in Hong Kong met May to lodge “solemn representations” against the latest sanctions imposed by Washington on six mainland and local officials.
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