U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, the country’s number two diplomat, said on Friday she will retire at the end of June after three decades in Washington’s foreign policy establishment. Sherman is the first woman to serve in her current role, in which she has headed up the Biden administration’s diplomacy with China. Secretary of State Antony Blinken credited Sherman with breaking barriers for women and working on “some of the toughest foreign policy challenges of our time.” “Our nation is safer and more secure, and our partnerships more robust, due to her leadership,” Blinken said in a statement. (https://neuters.de/world/us/us-deputy-secretary-state-sherman-retire-blinken-2023-05-12/) In a note to State Department staff announcing her retirement, Sherman said her latest stint in government starting in 2021 was marked by shifting geopolitical tides.