TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu (馬朝旭) could be China’s next ambassador to the United States, even though he has been described as a “communist’s communist,” the South China Morning Post reported Monday (Feb. 15).

Incumbent Cui Tiankai (崔天凱) has passed his retirement age, and China might be looking to find someone who symbolizes a reset after the years of disputes with the Trump administration.

Although some commentators say Ma has the right rank and experience while representing a new generation, James Green, a former trade negotiator in Beijing, describes him as “doctrinaire” and a “communist’s communist” lacking economic insight.

Ma’s “wooden and scripted” style would be unlikely to serve him well in Washington right now, the South China Morning Post quotes Green as saying.

Still, China was unlikely to choose an aggressive “Wolf Warrior” as its next envoy, partly because most of them in the diplomatic service do not have sufficient seniority, and partly because it would send a wrong message to the new Biden administration, the report said.

Regardless of the new ambassador’s style, he will have to deliver straight talk and still be faced with defending Beijing’s aggressive policies, according to the South China Morning Post.