ISLAMABAD: Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian, who gained prominence as one of China’s most wise, outspoken but effective diplomats, has been transferred to its department that manages land and sea borders.
Zhao, 50, is now deputy head of the ministry’s Department of Boundary and Ocean Affairs, the website of the ministry said on Monday.
Zhao became a ministry spokesperson in 2020 after stints in China’s embassy in Pakistan, where he built a large following on Twitter as well as on Chinese social media for his frequent and often combative posts, many targeted at the United States.
The innovative style of Zhao Lijian made him the most prominent diplomat which marked a departure from the restraint that had long characterised Beijing’s engagement with the world.
In a Twitter post in March 2020, Zhao wrote that the US military might have brought the coronavirus to the Chinese city of Wuhan. Zhao, who often hosted the ministry’s daily media briefing, has 1.9 million Twitter followers. Zhao and the ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his change in role.
Late last month, China promoted Qin Gang, its ambassador to Washington and a trusted aide of President Xi Jinping, to be its new foreign minister, as Beijing and Washington seek to stabilise rocky relations.
