On 17 May 2019, MFA’s Department of Asian Affairs Director Chen Xu becomes Chinese Ambassador to UN Geneva. Chen’s appointment has followed the pattern of the position—China has been appointing officials from MFA and Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) alternately to the position of Chinese Ambassador to UN Geneva. Chen’s predecessor to the position was Yu Jianhua (俞建华), who has been a career MOFCOM official and had been appointed China’s Trade Representative and Deputy Minister at MOFCOM a month ago. Yu’s predecessor to the position was Ma Zhaoxu (马朝旭), who was a career MFA official now serving as Chinese Ambassador to UN in New York City.