Poland's ambassador to China, Jakub Kumoch, resigned on Friday over the escalating fight surrounding the country's Constitutional Tribunal, prompting a sharp public rebuke from Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski.
"In light of the events in the country, I have concluded that it is no longer possible for me to continue serving as the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland," Kumoch wrote on X, adding that he had submitted his resignation and a request for recall.
Sikorski replied within minutes. "I acknowledge the unprofessional conclusion of your mission," he wrote. "You no longer represent the Republic." Speaking to foreign media on the sidelines of a G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta, Sikorski said Kumoch had abandoned his mission and that no one in Poland is forced to keep working. He noted that he had kept several of former President Andrzej Duda's closest aides in diplomatic posts at Duda's request, adding that good deeds are sometimes punished.
Marcin Przydacz, head of the presidential International Policy Bureau, said Kumoch resigned in response to what he called lawbreaking by Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government, which he accuses of unlawfully intervening in the court. Duda said Kumoch had refused to present abroad information about the tribunal that he considered untrue. The Foreign Ministry denied sending its missions any note on the matter. Paweł Soloch, another Duda-era ambassador, has also resigned over the tribunal dispute.
Kumoch, a former journalist and political scientist, became ambassador in Beijing in September 2023 under a Duda appointment. He previously served as ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein and to Turkey, and as a secretary of state in Duda's chancellery.
The resignations come as Poland's constitutional crisis deepens. President Karol Nawrocki cut short a foreign trip to return to Warsaw, a contested tribunal judge has called a general assembly of judges for November 3, and Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek has filed five requests to lift judicial immunity.
