China's new ambassador to India Xu Feihong arrives in Delhi. Who is he?

The newly-appointed Chinese ambassador Xu Feihong arrived in New Delhi on May 10

China’s new ambassador to India Xu Feihong arrived in New Delhi on May 10 to take charge of his office. The senior diplomat is the 17th Chinese ambassador to India and was appointed by President Xi Jinping on May 7 after an unusual delay of 18 months amid frosty ties between the two countries.

Soon after arriving, the 60-year-old diplomat met officials from the protocol division of ministry of external affairs of India, dean of diplomatic corps, and the ambassador of Eritrea to India HE Alem Tsehaye Woldemariam. He was also greeted by minister Ma Jia, minister Wang Lei, minister counsellor Chen Jianjun from the Chinese Embassy and his wife Tan Yuxiu at the airport.

Xu is a career diplomat, who worked at the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs as an assistant foreign minister from February 2021 until 2023 after he was removed for unexplained reasons. He has also served as the ambassador to Afghanistan between 2011 and 2013 and Romania between 2015 and 2018. Some of Xu’s postings have been in Finland, New Zealand, and the UK, with a focus on Europe, according to a report by South China Morning Post.

He will succeed veteran Chinese diplomat Sun Weidong who completed his tenure in October 2022. The post was vacant for the longest time since 1976. Sun was previously the ambassador to Pakistan and is currently the vice foreign minister overseeing Beijing’s South Asia policy.

In an interview with state broadcaster CGTN, Xu said President Xi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi share an understanding that the neighbours are cooperation partners and not competitors. He said “sound and steady” bilateral ties will be his priority during his stint in India.

He further said, during the interview, that he will follow the understanding between the two countries and reach out to friends from all the sectors in India. He will also seek to restore communication between the two countries.

Xu’s arrival in New Delhi coincides with the ongoing general elections in India and the protracted military and diplomatic negotiations between Beijing and New Delhi to resolve the prolonged military standoff.

Relations between the two countries were frozen except for trade ever since the eastern Ladakh border standoff erupted on May 5, 2020, following a violent clash in the Pangong Tso (lake) area. The eastern Ladakh standoff has resulted in a freeze of bilateral ties.

The two sides have so far held 21 rounds of corps commanders-level talks to resolve the standoff.

According to the Chinese military, the two sides so far agreed to disengage from four points, namely the Galwan Valley, the Pangong Lake, Hot Springs, and Jianan Daban (Gogra).

India is pressing the People's Liberation Army to disengage from the Depsang and Demchok areas, maintaining that there cannot be restoration of normalcy in its relations with China as long as the state of the borders remains abnormal.