Using a town hall to announce a resignation is unusual, said one State Department veteran.
A top U. S. diplomat in Beijing resigned on Monday, a move that a source said was driven by President Donald Trump’s decision last week to withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement.
A State Department spokesperson confirmed that David Rank, the Beijing embassy’s chargé d’affaires, had resigned, citing only “a personal decision.”
But a former State Department official familiar with the situation confirmed reports that Rank’s departure was related to Trump’s decision to exit the Paris climate change agreement.
Rank, who also had postings in Afghanistan and Pakistan during his 27 years at the State Department, publicly informed his colleagues at the embassy about his departure, according to John Pomfret, an editor for the English-language China news aggregator SupChina and author of a book on U. S.-China relations.
“Rank called a town hall meeting @USEmbassyBJ to say he could not deliver a demarche to the PRC govt over US withdrawal from @ParisAgreement, ” Pomfret tweeted .
