The ‘substantial’ cuts are expected to affect both US and local employees and are part of Trump’s drive to overhaul the corps worldwide

The United States is set to cut the size of its diplomatic mission in China by up to 10 per cent, according to people familiar with the situation.

US diplomats working in mainland China and Hong Kong as well as local employees might be given notice as early as Friday in an unprecedented round of downsizing, the Post has learned.

Two sources with knowledge of the matter said the cuts would affect the embassy in Beijing and consulates in Guangzhou, Shanghai, Shenyang and Wuhan, as well as the consulate in Hong Kong. Both sources requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.

It was not clear whether any of those affected would be reassigned elsewhere in the diplomatic service, but lay-offs are expected.

Describing the downsizing as “substantial”, one source said it was probably the first major downsizing of the US diplomatic team in China since the establishment of formal diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic in 1979.

A second source said the State Department’s instruction to downsize came last week. He added that affected employees may be contacted by the end of the week to be told the details of their severance package and last day of work.

They said the downsizing was part of the White House’s efforts to overhaul the US diplomatic corps around the world, with diplomatic missions expected to cut both US and local employees by around 10 per cent.

Separately, 60 contractors at the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labour have been terminated in recent weeks with further cuts threatened in other bureaus, according to US media reports.

The move comes amid drastic overall cuts in the US federal government which have seen thousands of employees being fired.

The State Department said it was “fully complying” with Trump’s “workforce optimisation agenda”.

A spokeswoman for the department said: “Consistent with this, the State Department continues to assess our global posture to ensure we are best positioned to address modern challenges on behalf of the American people. As a general matter, we do not comment on internal personnel matters.”

Last week President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio to revamp the foreign service to ensure “faithful and effective implementation” of his foreign policy agenda.

The order said failure to implement the president’s agenda would be grounds for disciplinary action and possible dismissal.

Trump has repeatedly ordered that US foreign policy be aligned with his “America first” agenda and pledged to “clean out the deep state” by firing government employees he deemed disloyal.

Just hours after taking office on January 20, he ordered a freeze of most US foreign aid to ensure it was aligned with his “America first” policies.

USAID, the chief American humanitarian agency, became the first target of the efforts led by Elon Musk to slash the size of the US government.

Trump has picked former Republican senator David Perdue as the next US ambassador to China. The appointment still needs Senate approval, but he is not expected to face significant opposition in the Republican-controlled chamber.

Unlike his predecessor Nicholas Burns, a career diplomat, Perdue is a businessman with experience of working in Asia.

Sarah Beran, a former special assistant for China affairs on the National Security Council staff at the White House, took up the role of deputy chief of mission at the embassy in Beijing last month.

In Hong Kong, US consul general Gregory May is approaching the end of his three-year term. His deputy, David Schlaefer, previously served as senior assistance coordinator at the US embassy in Kyiv before and during Russia’s invasion in 2022.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (www.scmp.com), the leading news media reporting on China and Asia.