US ambassador to China to step down

After just two years at the post, US ambassador to China Gary Locke will step down early next year, South China Morning Post reported. He is the first Chinese-American to hold the position. Locke said in a statement on Wednesday that he told US President Barack Obama when they met earlier this month of his decision to rejoin his family in Seattle. There was much speculation online that Beijing’s bad air had led Locke to take his family back to the US, but the ambassador denied the claim, saying he wanted his children to complete high school in the US. His predecessor Jon Huntsman resigned from the post after less than two years.