In shift, Biden taps career diplomat, not politician, for ambassador to China

President Joe Biden plans to nominate veteran US diplomat Nicholas Burns to serve as US ambassador to China, the White House said on Friday, signalling the administration may be looking for the envoy to play a more central role in the increasingly fractious relations between the two global rivals.

The choice of Burns, a retired career foreign service officer who served as under secretary of state between 2005 and 2008, marks a shift for the role of the ambassador to Beijing...