To mark the start of a Lunar New Year, the new US Ambassador to Vietnam Mark Knapper tried his hand at Vietnam’s traditional calligraphy with the words “Xin chào Việt Nam” (Hello Vietnam) and “Chúc mừng năm mới” (Happy New Year).

Knapper previously sent his Lunar New Year greeting to the Vietnamese people. “My family and I wish all of you a healthy, happy, and prosperous new year,” he wrote on the Facebook page of the US Embassy in Vietnam.

He and his family arrived at Hanoi on January 27. He was confirmed as the ambassador to Vietnam by the US Senate on December 18, around eight months after President Joe Biden nominated him for the position in mid-April.

During his hearing at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on July 13, 2021, Knapper said the Vietnam-US relations have undergone a profound transition from foes to comprehensive partners while expressing his commitment to ensuring new heights in the partnership going forward.

Marc Evans Knapper, of California, is a veteran official in the US State Department and held the position of the deputy assistant minister in charge of Japan and Korea in East Asia and Pacific Bureau, fluent in Japanese and Korean.

He graduated from Princeton University and holds a master’s degree from the US Army War College, which provides graduate training for military officers and elite citizens to prepare them for missions and leadership positions. Before entering the US State Department, he studied at the University of Tokyo in Japan.

Knapper has more than 25 years of professional experience in foreign policy and diplomacy, in which he has spent many years on policy issues and cultural and linguistic research in East Asia.

In addition to the period working in Vietnam, Knapper has worked and held leadership positions in US diplomatic missions abroad. He was appointed deputy US ambassador to Korea, became chargé d’affaires in 2017 and 2018. Before that, he held several leadership positions at the US embassies in Iraq and Japan.