New Delhi: After a gap of 18 months, China finally has a new envoy in India, with the ambassador-designate Xu Feihong arriving in New Delhi on Friday (May 10) morning, asserting that both Asian neighbours should not view each other as threats but as development opportunities.
Xu announced his arrival in New Delhi in the early hours of Friday through his official X (formerly Twitter) account, marking one-and-a-half years since his predecessor, Sun Weidong, demitted office in October 2022.
He was received at the airport by Chinese embassy officials, protocol officer from the Ministry of External Affairs and dean of diplomatic corps in Delhi, Eritrean ambassador Alem Tsehaye Woldemariam.
The prolonged period without a Chinese ambassador to its largest neighbour took place as Indian and Chinese troops continue to face-off at two points in eastern Ladakh.
Since the start of the stand-off in April-May 2020, relations had remained frozen, particularly after a fatal clash led to the death of 24 soldiers at Galwan Valley.
The Wire had been the first to report in January that Beijing had conveyed Xu’s name for the post of ambassador to the Indian side.
In an interview to state-run CGTN news channel before his arrival, Xu said he would follow the important consensus between the two country’s leaders and work to “restore exchanges and cooperation in various fields and create favourable conditions for a sound and steady China-India relationship”.
He described his appointment as a “great honour” and viewed it as “an honourable mission and a sacred duty”.
To a question that India and China are pitted as strategic rivals regionally, Xu replied, “President Xi [Jinping] and Prime Minister Modi have agreed on the important assessment that China and India are cooperation partners, not competitors and reached an important common understanding that our two countries are each other’s development opportunities, not threats”.
He asserted that this axiom “should serve as the fundamental guidelines for the growth of bilateral relations”.
Xu also advocated that China and India had similar positions “when it comes to supporting multilateralism, promoting global recovery, safeguarding food security, responding to climate change et cetera”.
“Closer communication and coordination on global and regional affairs will not only bring opportunities to both countries and the world but also add stability and positivity to international relations,” said the new Chinese ambassador-designate.
He added: “It will have an important positive impact on the development of a fair and reasonable international order.”
The senior Chinese diplomat is not a South Asian hand, as his only stint in South Asia had been as ambassador to Afghanistan from 2010 to 2013.
He has largely served in Western countries, spanning from Finland to Australia, with a primary focus on Europe.
His most recent ambassadorial assignment was in Romania from 2015 to 2018.
