Japan on Sept 11 appointed Shinichi Nishimiya to replace Uichiro Niwa as its ambassador to China amid escalating tensions over the Diaoyu Islands.

The statement appointing new ambassadors to China, the United States and the Republic of Korea was released after the cabinet meeting in the morning.

Before the new appointment, Shinichi Nishimiya, 60, was responsible for economic affairs as the deputy foreign minister.

Nishimiya graduated from the University of Tokyo with a bachelor degree in law and joined Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1976.

He has worked in Japanese embassies in Washington, Moscow and London. From 2005 to 2006, he served as a minister and as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the embassy of Japan in Beijing. After that, he was the director-general of the North American Affairs Bureau in Tokyo.

Unlike Niwa is Japan’s first envoy to China from the private sector, and Nishimiya is a career diplomat.

The replacement of Niwa is regarded as a setback of the Japanese government’s efforts to appoint a non-bureaucrat to the post.

The rare reshuffle of top foreign ministry officials and key ambassadors is also said to be the consequence of Japan’s chilling relations with neighboring countries due to territorial disputes.