Li Baodong (SHEN HONG)	He Yafei (SHANG JUN)

Li Baodong, China's new permanent representative to the UN, presented his credentials to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York on March 4. The day before, He Yafei succeeded Li as permanent representative of China to the UN Office at Geneva and Other International Organizations in Switzerland.

Li, 55, entered the diplomatic service in 1977. After serving as Ambassador to Zambia in 2005-07, he was appointed permanent representative to the UN Office at Geneva and Other International Organizations in Switzerland. Li studied at the Johns Hopkins University in 1988-89 and was China's senior official for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in 1998-2005.

He, 55, was vice minister of foreign affairs from 2008 to January 2010 after a two-year tenure as assistant minister of foreign affairs. He worked at the Permanent Mission of China to the UN in 1992-96 as first secretary and counselor. He holds a master's degree from the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1987.