Chen Xu (diplomat)

Born in Yanggu County, Shandong in February 1962, Chen graduated from Fudan University and China Foreign Affairs University.

Chen worked in the International Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China after university in 1985. In 1988, he became a member of the Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations [zh]. He was recalled to the original International Department in 1992. In 1998, he became a counsellor of the Permanent Mission of the People's Republic of China to the United Nations [zh].

Chen returned to China in 2003 and that same year became deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the People's Government of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. In 2004, he became deputy director of the International Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, rising to director in 2010.

He was designated by President Xi Jinping in 2013 to replace Zhang Jun as Chinese Ambassador to the Netherlands.

He was director of the Department of European Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in May 2016, and held that office until 2019.^[3]

In 2019, he was appointed permanent representative of China to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Other International Organizations in Switzerland [zh], succeeding Yu Jianhua.^[4] He was appointed as a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference on 17 January 2023 from the Friendship with Foreign Countries Sector.^[5] On November 12, 2025, he made a farewell call to Director General Tatiana Valovaya of the United Nations Office at Geneva, effectively ending his role as permanent representative of China to the UN Office at Geneva and Other International Organizations in Switzerland.^[2]

Chen is married and has a son.