Qian Qichen

Qian Qichen
钱其琛
Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China
In office April 1988 – March 1998
Premier	Li Peng
Preceded by	Wu Xueqian
Succeeded by	Tang Jiaxuan
Personal details
Born	(1928-01-05) January 5, 1928 Jiading, Shanghai, Republic of China
Nationality	Chinese
Political party	Communist Party of China
Spouse(s)	Zhou Hanqiong (周寒琼)
Signature

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Qian.

Qian Qichen
Traditional Chinese	錢其琛
Simplified Chinese	钱其琛
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Qián Qíchēn

Qian Qichen (Chinese: 钱其琛; born January 5, 1928 in Jiading, Shanghai) is a Chinese diplomat and politician. He served as the Chinese foreign minister from April 1988 to March 1998.

Biography

Qian joined the Communist Party of China in 1942. After leaving school in 1955, he served as a diplomat in Moscow and other places. He served for a while as ambassador to Guinea. He went to work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1977 and was vice-minister of foreign affairs from 1982–1988 and minister from 1988–1998. He was Vice Premier of the State Council from 1993 until he retired in 2003.

During his tenure as China's Foreign Minister, he was the first Chinese diplomat to attend an ASEAN event, going to the 1991 ASEAN Foreign Ministers Meeting in Malaysia. This marked the first time China formally acknowledged ASEAN as an institution and laid the groundwork for future ASEAN-China cooperation, like the ASEAN+3 mechanism and the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA).

External links

• Qian Qichen biography @ China Vitae

Government offices
Preceded by Wu Xueqian	Foreign Minister of the People's Republic of China 1988–1998	Succeeded by Tang Jiaxuan