Tang Jiaxuan

Early Life and a Career in Japan Diplomacy

Tang Jiaxuan was born on 17 January 1938 in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu. He first studied English at Fudan University before transferring to the Japanese-language programme in the Department of Oriental Languages at Peking University, graduating in 1960, and joined the Chinese Communist Party in November 1973. After graduation he worked as a translator for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as Second, then First, Secretary at the Chinese Embassy in Japan; in May 1985 he became Deputy Director of the Ministry's Asian Affairs Department, and in April 1988 returned to Japan as Minister-Counsellor, later Minister, at the Chinese Embassy. In December 1991 he became an Assistant Foreign Minister, and in March 1993 was promoted to Vice Foreign Minister, overseeing Asian affairs as well as consular and protocol work. His decades of experience in Japan-related diplomacy made him one of the Foreign Ministry's most senior specialists on Japan.

Minister of Foreign Affairs

From March 1998 to March 2003, Tang Jiaxuan served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. In April 2001, following the Hainan Island EP-3 incident between China and the United States, extensive diplomatic exchanges culminated on 11 April with US Ambassador Joseph Prueher delivering a formal apology letter to Tang on behalf of the US government — a letter that, according to Tang's own memoir, went through six rounds of revisions. Following the NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade in May 1999, he summoned the US Ambassador to China on behalf of the Chinese government to lodge a strong protest, demanding a formal apology, a thorough investigation of responsibility, and full compensation — making him the principal Chinese official responsible for managing the diplomatic response to the crisis. During his tenure he also participated in bilateral negotiations on China's WTO accession and in a series of high-level diplomatic exchanges on the Taiwan question.

State Councilor and Post-Retirement Roles

From March 2003 to March 2008, Tang Jiaxuan served as State Councilor, a rank senior to Foreign Minister, continuing to oversee China's foreign affairs. In June 2004 he became President of the China International Relations Society, and he later also became President of the China-Japan Friendship Association, extending his long-standing expertise in Japan-related affairs. In 2009 he published a memoir recounting the major events of his diplomatic career, published in English by Harper in 2011 as "Heavy Storm and Gentle Breeze: A Memoir of China's Diplomacy."