China’s ex-ambassador to Britain Liu Xiaoming named special envoy for North Korea

Liu will help coordinate and resolve issues related to the Korean peninsula, according to foreign ministry

His previous stint as ambassador in Pyongyang from 2006 to 2010 reportedly ended on a sour note

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Liu Xiaoming has been appointed China’s special representative on Korean peninsula affairs. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:00pm, 12 Apr 2021Updated: 10:39pm, 12 Apr 2021

China’s former ambassador to Britain will help coordinate Beijing’s policy on North Korea, after an earlier stint as envoy in the reclusive nation reportedly ended on a sour note.

Liu Xiaoming, Beijing’s top diplomat in Britain from 2010 until January this year, has been appointed as the new special representative on Korean peninsula affairs, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday. He replaces Kong Xuanyou, China’s envoy to Japan.

“[Liu’s] main responsibility is to assist the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to coordinate and resolve issues related to the Korean peninsula, maintain communication and cooperation with all parties and provide a constructive role in the political resolution of the Korean peninsula issues,” the ministry said in a statement.

Liu was China’s ambassador to North Korea between 2006 and 2010. According to a 2015 article on the Sino-North Korean research website, Pyongyang was displeased with Liu when he was the envoy and reportedly asked Beijing to recall him after “North Korean intelligence services … overheard him tell a group of Chinese investors that they should take their money elsewhere and not invest in North Korea”.

During his time in London, Liu wrote several opinion pieces for British newspapers and frequently accepted interviews with local media, using them to defend China’s position on hot-button issues like 5G, the Hong Kong protests and allegations of human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region.

In September 2017, when North Korea carried out several missile tests, Liu pushed back at international criticism that Beijing was not doing enough to rein in its communist ally, writing in an op-ed: “Some Western media have criticised China for failing to do its best to curb [North Korea]. I do not agree. Nor do I subscribe to the belief that China holds the ‘master key’ to this crisis.”