Hundreds of donors and former lawmakers, who have not been Foreign Service officers but are close to the president, are said to be clamoring for about 35 ambassadorship slots available.

By Annie Karni

WASHINGTON — President Biden has begun reviewing a list of finalists to serve as key ambassadors as he seeks to cut down on the number of political appointees his predecessor Donald J. Trump installed at embassies abroad, and to send a signal to career Foreign Service officials that they are valued once again.

That has left hundreds of donors and former lawmakers, who have not been Foreign Service officers but do have close relationships to the president, clamoring for about 35 ambassadorship slots available, according to people familiar with the process. It has also led to a push and pull between the desires of the diplomatic and political worlds.

The tension between those spheres has been most prominently on display in internal deliberations about who to appoint as ambassador to China, one of the most important embassy postings, especially after an extraordinarily rancorous meeting in Anchorage between top Chinese and American diplomats signaled a newly confrontational Beijing.

Mr. Biden, people familiar with the process said, has expressed interest in choosing someone he views as a “principal” who could be a political fighter, in other words, a former elected official who would send a different kind of message than a career diplomat would.

Rahm Emanuel, a former Chicago mayor and White House chief of staff in the Obama administration, has been in the running for the position after being passed over for transportation secretary, people familiar with the process said. He remains close to Mr. Biden and other senior officials in the White House.

But the diplomatic world is pushing for R. Nicholas Burns, a veteran Foreign Service officer and a former ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, to get the post, arguing for a career professional over someone whose work has been steeped in domestic politics. Mr. Emanuel, who is also said to be under consideration as ambassador to Japan, declined to comment on the state of internal deliberations. Mr. Burns did not respond to a request for comment.

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