What can be inferred from the news?

Max Baucus, the influential Democratic senator from Montana, is set to become the next US ambassador to China. "It’s an interesting ’ pick ’ in the sense that security competition with China is heating up and he doesn’t have much of a record on security issues," said Dan Blumenthal, director of Asian studies at the American Enterprise Institute. While Baucus will certainly get up to speed, he’s probably less likely than his predecessors to interfere with the White House and the Pentagon on military or political issues.