China announced on January 3 the appointment of Cui Tiankai, Fu Ying and Zhai Jun as vice ministers of foreign affairs. The three veteran diplomats have each worked in China's diplomatic service for more than 30 years.

Two former vice ministers of foreign affairs, Wu Dawei and He Yafei, were removed from their posts.

The 58-year-old Cui is a versatile diplomat, with a master's degree from Johns Hopkins University in the United States. Before his latest appointment, he was China's ambassador to Japan beginning in September 2007. 

Cui had also worked at the Foreign Ministry's Department of International Organizations and Conferences, Information Department, Policy Research Office and Department of Asian Affairs, as well as for China's Permanent Delegation to the United Nations. Between 1996 and 1997, he was a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry.

Fu, 57, is the second female vice foreign minister of China since 1949, following Wang Hairong who held the post in 1974-79. During her tenure as Chinese ambassador to the UK since 2007, Fu won recognition as a media-savvy diplomat for her active engagement with local media whenever issues cropped up.

Fu also served as China's ambassador to the Philippines (1998-2000) and Australia (2000-03). She was also one of the first Chinese diplomats participating in the Six-Party Talks on the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, which were launched in 2003 when she was director of the Department of Asian Affairs of the Foreign Ministry.

Zhai, 56, had been assistant foreign minister for three years before the recent elevation. Before that, he served as the head of the Foreign Ministry's Department of West Asian and North African Affairs from 2003 to 2006.

Zhai started his service in the Foreign Ministry as an Arabic interpreter for state leaders in 1975. In the past 35 years, he was mainly engaged in diplomatic issues concerning West Asia and North Africa, having served as Chinese ambassador to Libya (1997-2000) and worked at Chinese embassies in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Between 2001 and 2003, he was director of the Foreign Ministry's Bureau for Chinese Diplomatic Missions Abroad.