Locke says he has no plans to run for US president  

駱家輝談卸任：無意競選總統 只為陪伴家人

美國駐華大使駱家輝20日突然宣布將于明年初卸任引起輿論關注。21日駱家輝在昆明接受中新社記者專訪時稱，他還未考慮卸任后將會如何安排，首先會回到西雅圖與家人團聚，“因為家庭才是最重要的”。 [查看全文]

Kunming (CNS) -- Gary Locke, the Chinese-American ambassador to China, said in an interview with China News Service on Thursday that he had no plans to run for the president of the US in 2016.

"A president's job is too difficult for me," said Locke, in Kunming, Yunnan province. "I hadn't even considered my next working plans after I leave the post."

"When I met with President Obama earlier this month, I informed him of my decision to step down as ambassador in early 2014 to rejoin my family in Seattle," Locke said in a statement released by the US embassy.

As the first American of Chinese descent to head the US embassy in Beijing,Locke said it was the "honor of a lifetime" to serve as ambassador to China.

About the online joke that he was probably trying to get away from the smog in Beijing, Locke responded that he was concerned about the air quality, but that was not the reason.

Locke announced on Wednesday that he will leave his post early next year to rejoin his wife and three children in Seattle.

"At present, my children are in high school in Seattle, so I hope to go back to the city and watch them grow up. I will help them choose their universities, and I hope to see them experience the crucial moments in their lives," Locke said.

Locke, a former Commerce secretary, carried that role into his ambassadorship, pioneering his position as something of a traveling salesman, plugging American businesses and exports in province-by-province events to promote investment.

Locke's grandfather emigrated from China to Washington state, and his father, who was also born in China, ran a grocery store in the United States.