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Beijing: former ambassador Sun Weidong has been appointed vice foreign minister until October as Beijing’s special envoy to India, state media reported on Tuesday, suggesting the top Chinese diplomat will play an important role in shaping China’s policy in South Asia in the coming years function first.
“According to China’s Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Sun Weidong, who just ended his tenure as China’s ambassador to India for more than three years, was appointed vice foreign minister,” the state-run tabloid Global Times tweeted late Tuesday.
Sun’s predecessor, Luo Zhaohui, was also promoted to vice foreign minister after returning to China in 2019.
Sun, 56, served as China’s ambassador to India from 2019 to 2022, with bilateral relations plummeting to their lowest point in decades amid ongoing tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh and clashes in the Galwan Valley in 2020. June.
From 2005 to 2008, he worked as a counselor at the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi.
Sun met Foreign Minister S Jaishankar before returning to China in October, when his Indian counterpart told him that normalizing India-China relations was in the national and regional interest.
Jaishankar told Sun that the “three mutuals”-mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interests-should guide Sino-Indian relations, and “peace and tranquility in the border area are of paramount importance.”
In his farewell remarks, delivered by the Chinese embassy, Sun made no mention of ongoing border tensions but said it was “normal” for the two countries to have differences.
“The key is how to deal with the differences. We should realize that the common interests of the two countries outweigh the differences,” Sun wrote in his speech.
Days before leaving office, Sun also undertook a three-day visit to Bhutan, where he met with Bhutanese leaders.
China and Bhutan have no diplomatic ties, and Beijing accuses New Delhi of influencing Thimphu’s policy towards Beijing.
Before New Delhi, Sun served as China’s ambassador to Pakistan for three years.
China has yet to name Sun’s successor.
Given Sun’s experience in South Asia, he is likely to be the leading diplomat for the next foreign minister after State Councilor and current Foreign Minister Wang Yi steps down in March.
Wang also may not remain as special representative (SR) for India-China border talks during October’s national party congress, given his promotion to the Chinese Communist Party’s Politburo, one of China’s top decision-making bodies.
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