Acting US ambassador to China David Rank has resigned in protest against President Donald Trump’s withdrawal of the US from the Paris climate accord.
A US State Department official confirmed Monday that Rank, who was the US charge d’affaires in Beijing, left his post but would not say why.
“He has retired from the foreign service,” said Anna Richey-Allen, a spokeswoman for the department’s East Asia Bureau. “Mr. Rank has made a personal decision. We appreciate his years of dedicated service to the State Department.”
Rank was serving as the top US diplomat in China until the arrival of former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad as ambassador to China later this month.
Rank was a respected foreign service officer who joined the State Department in 1990. He served in Greece, Mauritius, Taiwan, Shanghai and Afghanistan.
“Dave Rank is the best America has to offer,” Scott Mulhauser, the former chief of staff at the US Embassy in Beijing, told NBC News….