News: Former Chief Inspector of Central Commission of Discipline Inspection (CCDI) at Foreign Affairs Office Zhang Ji (张骥) was transferred to become Chief Inspector of CCDI at Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) today.
Quick Take: Zhang is to replace Xie Hangsheng (谢杭生), who has been working in CCDI system at MFA for more than seven years. Now aged 64, one year over the stated age limit, Xie will now officially enter retirement. Including Zhang’s appointment today, there have been a continuous wave of personnel reshuffling in MFA since the beginning of this year, including Assistant Minister Liu Xianfa (刘显法) and Party Secretary Qi Yu (齐玉). Apart from this, we have also observed a notable crossover between commerce and foreign affairs in the background of many recently transferred officials—for example, Zhang Ji spent most of his career in Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation and Ministry of Commerce before serving for CCDI; moreover, Liu Xianfa has previously worked for SINOPEC and NDRC before entering Foreign Affairs. Last but not least, recently appointed Ministry of Commerce Vice Party Secretary Yu Jianhua (俞建华) has also taken several posts in foreign affairs such as China’s permanent representative to the UN office in Geneva. This emerging trend suggests that officials’ previous work experience in these two fields is now being increasingly valued for promotion.