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Liu Xiaoming (AN ZHIPING) |
Cheng Yonghua (LU BINGHUI) |
China's new top diplomats in Britain, Liu Xiaoming, and Japan, Cheng Yonghua, have assumed office, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. They succeeded Fu Ying and Cui Tiankai who were appointed vice foreign ministers in January.
Liu, 54, was former Chinese ambassador to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 2006-09. He joined the Chinese foreign service in 1974 and earned a Master's degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, the United States, in 1983. He also served as ambassador to Egypt in 2001-03 and minister (deputy chief of mission) at the Chinese Embassy in the United States in 1998-2001.
Cheng, 55, was relocated from the ambassadorial post in the Republic of Korea that he had held since 2008. He studied at Soka University in Tokyo between 1975 and 1977, and had worked at the Chinese embassy in Japan for 16 years, including an assignment as deputy chief of mission from 2003 to 2006. He had also served as ambassador to Malaysia in 2006-08. |
