Zhai Jun Explained

Honorific Prefix:His excellency
Zhai Jun
Native Name:翟隽
Native Name Lang:zh
Ambassador From:Chinese
Country:France
Term Start:2014
Term End:2019
Predecessor:Kong Quan
Successor:Lu Shaye
Office2:Deputy Foreign Minister
Term Start2:2009
Term End2:2014
Office3:China's Special Envoy on the Middle East Issue
Term Start3:September 2019
Predecessor3:Gong Xiaosheng
Office1:Chinese Ambassador to Libya
Term Start1:1997
Term End1:2000
Predecessor1:Qin Hongguo
Successor1:Luo Xingwu
Birth Place:Qingyuan, Hebei, China
Party:Chinese Communist Party
Children:1 (son)
Alma Mater:Beijing Foreign Language School
Cairo University
Occupation:Diplomat

Zhai Jun (; born December 1954) is a Chinese diplomat,[1] who has served as China's Special Envoy on the Middle Eastern Issue since 2019. As of 2022, he was the incumbent in the position.[2] Previously, he served as Deputy Foreign Minister from 2009 to 2014, and was appointed Chinese ambassador to France in January 2014, replacing Kong Quan.[3]

Early life

Born on 1954 in Qingyuan, Hebei, Zhai learned Arabic since childhood. After graduating from Beijing Foreign Language School in November 1972, he was sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to study in the Arabic Department of the Faculty of Literature at Cairo University in Egypt and graduated in 1975.[4] [5]

Diplomatic career

Upon his graduation, he returned to China and worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he worked in the translation office, the Department of West Asia and North Africa, and at Chinese embassies in South Yemen and Saudi Arabia. He later worked as a counsellor at the Chinese embassy in Saudi Arabia.[6]

In 1996, he served as counselor of the West Asia and North Africa Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In December 1997, he served as the Chinese Ambassador to Libya. After his return to China in 2000, he served as Deputy Director-General of the Department of West Asia and North Africa and on the same year, he served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Zhenjiang Municipal Committee in Jiangsu Province. In 2001, he served as Director-General of the Foreign Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in 2003, he appointed as the Director-General of the Department of West Asia and North Africa.[6]

In 2006, he was promoted to Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and in 2009, he was promoted to Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. From January 2014 to June 2019, he served the Chinese Ambassador to France and Monaco.[6] [7]

On September 2, 2019, he was appointed as the Chinese Special Envoy to the Middle East, succeeding Gong Xiaosheng.[8] [9]

Personal life

He is married and has one son.[6]

Awards

Notes and References

  1. News: Alghamdi. Jassim. OIC receives Chinese delegation. 27 December 2010. Saudi Gazette. 18 December 2010.
  2. Book: Murphy, Dawn C. . China's rise in the Global South : the Middle East, Africa, and Beijing's alternative world order . 2022 . 978-1-5036-3060-4 . Stanford, California . 113 . 1249712936.
  3. News: 外交部副部长翟隽履新中国驻法大使 . 2014-09-21 . People's Daily.
  4. Web site: 副部级大使是怎样炼成的. Shanghai Observer. 2014-09-24. 2023-05-01.
  5. Web site: 翟隽副外长. Shanghai International Studies University Middle East Institute. 2023-05-01.
  6. News: 翟隽. mfa.gov.cn. 2023-05-01.
  7. Web site: 驻法国大使翟隽向法国政要辞行. Embassy of the People's Republic of China in France. 2019-06-27. 2023-05-01.
  8. Web site: Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang's Regular Press Conference on September 2, 2019. Consulate of the People's Republic of China in Belfast. 2023-05-01.
  9. Web site: Wang . Jin . 2019-12-05 . Can China's 'New Idea' Work in the Middle East? . 2023-05-01 . The Diplomat.
  10. Web site: 驻法国大使翟隽荣获法国荣誉勋位团大军官勋章. Embassy of the People's Republic of China in France. 2019-06-27 . 2023-05-01.