New Delhi: China may finally have a new ambassador in India early this year, with Beijing reportedly having selected a two-time envoy to fill the post, which has been lying vacant for over 15 months.
The Wire has learnt that China has finalised one of its assistant foreign ministers posted at headquarters in Beijing, Xu Feihong, as the next ambassador to India.
There is, however, no official confirmation from either the Chinese embassy or the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
Xu is currently assistant minister for financial and administrative affairs in the foreign ministry.
The Indian side has been conveyed about the candidate, as per informed sources.
While it was earlier expected that he could be arriving as early as around the time of the Spring Festival next month, it is uncertain if that timeline is feasible.
Xu’s position of assistant foreign minister is roughly equivalent to the rank of additional secretary in the MEA. Since the post of Chinese ambassador to India is of the vice-minister rank, he would need to be promoted before he comes to India.
The previous two Chinese ambassadors to India, Sun Weidong and his predecessor, Lui Zhaohui, had significant experience in South Asia, including prior postings in India.
However, Lu Yucheng, who preceded Lui, did not have any regional experience.
In his 37 years as a Chinese diplomat, Xu’s only assignment in South Asia was as ambassador to Afghanistan from 2010 to 2013.
Most of his postings have been in the Western world, ranging from Finland to Australia, with a specialisation in Europe. His last ambassadorial posting had been in Romania from 2015 to 2018.
China’s latest ambassador to India, Sun Weidong, left his post in October 2022 after three years that saw relations between the two Asian neighbours plummet following fatal clashes in the mountainous heights of eastern Ladakh.
Since April-May 2020, India and China have been locked in a military stand-off in the western part of their long border.
India had claimed that Chinese troops had moved further beyond their traditional positions on the Line of Actual Control, resulting in multiple skirmishes with the patrolling teams of the Indian army.
The deadliest conflict took place on June 15, when Indian and Chinese troops engaged in a hand-to-hand fight at the Galwan valley, which led to the death of 20 Indian soldiers and at least four Chinese troops.
Since then, at least 20 rounds of military-level talks and 13 rounds of foreign office-led discussions have been held between the two countries.
This had led to disengagement at five friction points at the Pangong Tso lake’s north and south banks, patrolling points 15 and 17A at the Gogra-Hot Springs area and Galwan.
When ambassador Sun left in 2022, Demchok and Depsang were the remaining areas of stand-off.
Fifteen months on, there has been no change on this front.
India maintains that the standoff will only be resolved once there is disengagement and de-escalation at Demchok and Depsang. In contrast, China asserts that the alteration in status quo after May 2020 does not encompass these two areas.
China has repeatedly called for the “normalisation” of ties and to go beyond the border dispute, but India insists that the stand-off has to be resolved first.
Observers interpret the prolonged delay in appointing another Chinese envoy to the Indian capital, especially when it holds a senior rank and would have enough takers, as a deliberate signal of displeasure from Beijing.
Besides the border issue, there had been other issues over which Beijing has expressed its annoyance, like the financial investigations of major Chinese companies in India. China had also not been happy when India had turned the SCO summit into a virtual one.
Chinese president Xi Jinping also skipped the G20 summit in India, despite having gone to Indonesia the previous year.
After the 1962 war, both countries exchanged ambassadors only after a gap of 15 years in 1976.
Since then, there has usually been only a short gap of a couple of months at the most between ambassadors.
