Yu Jun: China's new Ambassador to the Republic of Uzbekistan

Former Foreign Ministry official Yu Jun (于骏) has recently been appointed Ambassador to Uzbekistan. Yu presented a copy of his credentials to Uzbekistan’s Foreign Minister on 12 July, having arrived the week prior. This signified the formal replacement of Ambassador Jiang Yan (姜岩), who departed Uzbekistan in Feb 2023 after a highly successful 5 years in office. In recent times, Ambassador Yu is probably best known in Western media as one of the officials tasked with briefing the press following Xi Jinping’s phone conversation with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in April 2023, which was the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

According to the limited CV provided by the embassy, Yu is Han Chinese, was born in August 1972, has an undergraduate degree, and is a member of the Communist Party of China. For professional experience, his CV simply writes that he has “worked in relevant departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and embassies and consulates abroad”.

Few details of his background are available online, however, it was possible to produce the following CV using a variety of sources:

2011 – 2013: Deputy Consul General of China’s Consulate in Khabarovsk, Russia.

2013 – 2015: Deputy Consul General of China’s Consulate in St Petersburg, Russia.

2016 – 2017: Unconfirmed.

2018 – 2019: Counsellor of the Department of European-Central Asian Affairs within China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

2020 – 2023: Deputy Director-General of the Department of European-Central Asian Affairs within China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

2023 – Present: Chinese Ambassador to the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Just like his predecessor Jiang Yan, before becoming Ambassador, Yu was serving as a Deputy Director-General of the Department of European-Central Asian Affairs within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He also has a wealth of experience working abroad, with two stints at different consulates in Russia. Regional expertise is fairly typical of China’s diplomatic appointments, with many diplomats spending their entire career progressing through different roles related to a specific geographic region.

Yu’s appointment comes at a time of rapidly rising trade and investment between China and Uzbekistan, which is an important country for China’s Belt and Road Initiative. A number of important deals have recently been struck between the two countries. Indeed, China is currently seeking to increase its strategic cooperation with Uzbekistan, including both energy and infrastructure projects, with one notable development being the imminent construction of the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway. Yu’s experience in Russia as well as with European-Central Asian Affairs will be adventageous for him as China attempts to further increase its presence in Central Asia, a region that has historically been seen as Russia’s sphere of influence.