Chunxue to replace outgoing Chinese DCM

After Lijian Zhao, Chunxue has been appointed as the Chinese embassy’s new deputy chief of mission

ISLAMABAD: Pang Chunxue has been appointed as the Chinese embassy’s new deputy chief of mission (DCM), replacing the outgoing Lijian Zhao, who is set to leave the country on August 8 after completing his term in Pakistan.

Chunxue is a senior diplomat, who has served in the United Kingdom, and Afghanistan and first came to Pakistan almost 20 years ago in a junior position in the late 1990s.

Chinese Deputy Chief of Mission in Pakistan Lijian Zhao is leaving with effect from August 8.

Zhao has served in Islamabad on more than one occasion, cumulatively spending more than eight years here.

A popular figure in the diplomatic circles in Islamabad, he became one of the first Chinese diplomats in the federal capital who effectively leveraged social media to explain the Chinese aspect and to clarify confusion and rumours surrounding Pakistan-China ties and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

Zhao was originally born in the Hebei province, China in 1972. He obtained a master’s degree in political affairs and joined the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1996. As a junior diplomat, he has served in Washington.

Between 2013 and 2015, he served as the director of the Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh Office in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2019.