Profile: Special Envoy Zhai Jun

Who is China's Special Envoy on the Middle East Issue?

China’s Special Envoy on the Middle East Issue, Zhai Jun, was dispatched last month to the Middle East to participate in the on-going international push for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Zhai Jun (翟隽) is a senior diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and has a wealth of experience dealing with the Middle East. At 68 years old, he is nearing the end of his diplomatic career and has held multiple vice-ministerial-level roles, such as Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs (2009 – 2014) and China’s Ambassador to France (2014 – 2019).

Whilst Zhai’s experience is not limited to the Middle East, most of his career has been spent working in related roles. Zhai is also fluent in Arabic (for an example of his linguistic skills, see this video of Zhai in an interview with Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat). He is a graduate from Beijing Foreign Languages ​​School and was sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to study Arabic at Cairo University.

Early in his career, Zhai held diplomatic posts in Yemen (Attaché and Third Secretary), Saudi Arabia (First Secretary and Counselor), and Libya (Ambassador). When he was appointed Ambassador to Libya in 1997, 43-year-old Zhai became the youngest ever diplomat to reach such a level of seniority¹ , indicating that he showed potential as a diplomat early on.

In between these postings, Zhai worked in the Department of West Asian and North African Affairs. He started as a Third Secretary in 1985 and finished as Director-General of the Department from 2003 to 2006.

In 2006, Zhai was promoted to Assistant Foreign Minister and later to Vice Foreign Minister from 2009 to 2014. During this time, Zhai managed regional affairs in the Middle East and Africa. Whilst working as Assistant Foreign Minister, Zhai also briefly acted as the Chinese Government’s Special Representative to Sudan, where he helped convince the Sudanese government to accept a joint United Nations - African Union peacekeeping plan² ³ ⁴.

In 2019, Zhai became the first vice-ministerial-level official to be appointed Special Envoy on the Middle East Issue since the first envoy with this portfolio was appointed in 2002⁵, suggesting that Middle Eastern issues were gaining prominence on China’s foreign policy agenda. 

One of earliest examples of Zhai speaking about China’s Israel-Palestine policy was in 2006, when he made headlines defending China’s controversial decision to invite Mahmoud al-Zahar, a senior Hamas member who had recently been sworn in as Palestinian Foreign Minister, to a ministerial meeting of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum held in China.

Initially, Chinese officials denied having any intention in inviting al-Zahar to China⁶, however Zhai later confirmed that al-Zahar would indeed be attending the summit. In response⁷, Israel summoned China’s Ambassador to lodge a serious protest against the invitation⁸. 

Zhai justified the Chinese Government’s actions saying that “we don’t necessarily agree with Hamas policies, but we respect the people's choice”. He continued by suggesting that “[o]n this basis, we can urge the Hamas government to respect agreements previously signed with Israel, to recognize Israel and to return to talks"⁹.

Since 2006, Hamas has repeatedly failed to adhere to ceasefire agreements and still does not recognise Israel.

Nevertheless, in response to the escalation of violence in October 2023, Zhai has repeatedly called for a ceasefire and has argued that only with a cessation of violence will a political solution be reached¹⁰.

During his recent trip to the Middle East, Zhai visited 5 different Arab states and attended the Cairo Peace Summit on 21 Oct (where he also met with the Secretary-General of the Arab League on the side-lines).

Analysts such as Raffaello Pantucci argue that Zhai’s tour of the Middle East was nothing but a “listening tour” around the region in an attempt to emulate what China thinks great powers should do during a major conflict¹¹. Another possible explanation could be that Zhai was laying the groundwork for China’s future coordination with the Arab League on the issue.

Indeed, just days prior to his trip, Zhai met with representatives from Arab countries, together with the head of the Arab League office in China¹². At the meeting, Zhai said that China supports the Arab League assuming an important role in resolving the Israel-Palestine issue, and that China would “maintain communication and coordination” moving forward.

Zhai has also made contact with representatives from Israel and Palestine. On 12 Oct, he held a phone conversation with Israeli Foreign Ministry’s Deputy Director General in charge of the Asia-Pacific¹³, and on 17 Oct, Zhai held a face-to-face meeting with Israel’s Ambassador to China¹⁴. He also spoke with Palestine’s First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs via a telephone call on 11 Oct¹⁵.

If it is China’s intention to work in concert with Arab states in pursuit of a ceasefire, either regionally or at the UN, Zhai’s long-standing relationship with Arab countries and fluency in Arabic would certainly enable him to play a key role. Zhai’s CV can be found below.

Update: this article has had some minor edits for the sake of added clarity

Zhai Jun’s Diplomatic CV¹⁶

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Born in Hebei Province, December 1954

1972 - 1975 Studied at Beijing Foreign Languages ​​School, sent by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to study in the Arabic Department of the Faculty of Arts, Cairo University, Egypt¹⁷

1975 - 1980 Staff member, Department of Translation and Interpretation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA)

1980 - 1985 Attaché, Third Secretary, Chinese Embassy in the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen

1985 - 1992 Third Secretary, Deputy Office Director, First Secretary, Department of West Asian and North African Affairs, MFA

1992 - 1996 First Secretary, Counselor, Chinese Embassy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

1996 - 1997 Counselor, Department of West Asian and North African Affairs, MFA

1997 - 2000 Ambassador to Syria

2000  Deputy Director-General, Department of West Asian and North African Affairs, MFA

2000 - 2001 Member of the Standing Committee of Communist Party of China Zhenjiang Municipal Committee, Jiangsu Province

2001 - 2003 Director-General, Bureau for Chinese Diplomatic Missions Abroad, MFA

2003 - 2006 Director-General, Department of West Asian and North African Affairs, MFA

2006 - 2009 Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs

2009 - 2014 Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs in charge of regional affairs in West Asia, North Africa and Africa¹⁸

2014 - 2019 Ambassador to France and Monaco¹⁹ ²⁰

2019 - Special Envoy of the Chinese Government on the Middle East Issue

1. https://web.archive.org/web/20230502234231/https://web.shobserver.com/wx/detail.do?id=255&time=1422880788181&from=timeline&isappinstalled=1

2. https://web.archive.org/web/20231106023430/https://www.reuters.com/article/china-sudan-idUKPEK31009920070411

3. https://web.archive.org/web/20231106023513/https://sudantribune.com/article21572/

4. https://web.archive.org/web/20201128032215/https://www.scmp.com/article/588618/china-had-role-un-deal-darfur

5. https://web.archive.org/web/20231106023645/http://www.chinaarabcf.org/zdlw/yzshshsb/201909/t20190908_6835215.htm

6. https://web.archive.org/web/20230329200229/https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/chinese-deny-forming-ties-with-hamas

7. https://web.archive.org/web/20231106030931/https://www.voachinese.com/a/a-21-w2006-05-17-voa33-58391617/1080297.html

8. https://web.archive.org/web/20231105103201/https://www.un.org/unispal/document/auto-insert-197748/

9. https://archive.ph/hGUYf

10. https://web.archive.org/web/20231106023726/http://www.chinaarabcf.org/zagx/zajw/202310/t20231016_11161292.htm

11. https://web.archive.org/web/20231023005442/https://www.voanews.com/a/china-signals-willingness-to-deepen-involvement-in-facilitating-potential-hamas-israel-cease-fire-/7311715.html

12. https://web.archive.org/web/20231106023725/http://www.chinaarabcf.org/zagx/zajw/202310/t20231016_11161284.htm

13. https://web.archive.org/web/20231106112659/http://www.chinaarabcf.org/zagx/zajw/202310/t20231013_11160268.htm

14. https://web.archive.org/web/20231017225442/https://www.mfa.gov.cn/wjdt_674879/sjxw_674887/202310/t20231017_11162398.shtml

15. https://web.archive.org/web/20231106112700/http://www.chinaarabcf.org/zagx/zajw/202310/t20231013_11160265.htm

16. Unless otherwise specified, details of Zhai’s CV were found here: https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/ziliao_665539/wjrw_665549/lrfbzjbzzl_665553/200802/t20080205_698079.html

17. https://web.archive.org/web/20230426210041/http://www.mesi.shisu.edu.cn/d9/d6/c3577a55766/page.htm

18. https://web.archive.org/web/20230426210041/http://www.mesi.shisu.edu.cn/d9/d6/c3577a55766/page.htm

19. https://web.archive.org/web/20230904050053/https://www.mfa.gov.cn/web/ziliao_674904/wjrw_674925/2167_674935/oz/200803/t20080311_7950744.shtml

20. https://web.archive.org/web/20181201225829/http://fr.china-embassy.org/chn/ttxw/t1147414.htm