Zhai Jun

Assistant Foreign Minister

Date of Birth: December 1954
Place of Birth: Hebei Province

A specialist in the Middle East and North Africa, Zhai is responsible for China's West Asian and African relations. The Hebei native joined the Foreign Ministry after finishing university and was sent to study Arabic at Cairo University. He returned to Beijing in 1975, spending five years as a translator before taking an embassy post in Yemen. He later worked in Saudi Arabia and served as ambassador to Libya. He was Director-General of West Asian and North African Affairs until 2006, when he became Assistant Foreign Minister.

Zhai led the preparations for the third Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in November 2006, an event that rejuvenated China's relationship with Africa. He continues to host follow-up activities like the visit of ministers from Francophone African countries to Beijing in late June 2008.

Also in June, the China Institute of International Studies, the Foreign Ministry's think-tank, held a 'Darfur: Peace and Development' seminar which attempted to offset criticism of Beijing's support for the Sudanese government. Zhai dismissed talk of economic sanctions against Sudan and pointed instead to the slow deployment of the United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID), which Zhai helped to persuade Sudan to accept during a visit to Khartoum in April 2007. Meanwhile, Special Envoy to Darfur Liu Guijin took a crack at ungrateful non-governmental organisations and biased media.

Zhai then attended the 11th African Union summit in Sharm el-Sheikh. On 30 June, he met with AU Chairman Jean Ping and handed over donations of US$300,000 to the AU and $600,000 to UNAMID.