TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A former Chinese diplomat in New York has been moved to Hong Kong to handle Taiwan affairs, reports said Wednesday (Jan. 10).

Zhao Yumin (趙宇敏) started his career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs news department before moving on from Houston to serve as assistant consul general in New York City in 2017, per CNA. However, he recently changed track to join the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO), according to Hong Kong’s Sing Tao Daily.

Late in 2023, Zhao arrived in Hong Kong to serve as deputy director of the Taiwan department at China’s Liaison Office. He was expected to be promoted fairly rapidly to the post of director, the report said.

The Hong Kong media interpreted the “parachuting” of a diplomat with experience in the United States into the special administrative region as a sign that it might become a “battlefield” in the U.S.-China trade war.