Wang Chao (politician, born 1960)

Wang Chao was born in April 1960 in Daming County, Hebei Province. He graduated from the Guangzhou Institute of Foreign Languages with a bachelor's degree in English. Wang joined the Chinese Communist Party in December 1985 and began his professional career in February 1982. He first worked in the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade, serving as an officer in the Department of Foreign Aid. From 1982 to 1986, he was assigned to the Chinese Embassy in Malta as a staff member in the Economic and Commercial Office. Between 1986 and 1989, he worked as an economist at the China National Complete Plant Export Corporation. From 1989 to 1991, he served as third secretary and second secretary at the Chinese Embassy in Iran, and subsequently as an economist again at the same corporation.^[2]

Wang then worked in the Department of American and Oceanian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation (MOFTEC), where he successively held the positions of deputy division director, division director, deputy director-general, and finally director-general. In 2003, following the ministry's reorganization into the Ministry of Commerce, he continued to serve as director-general of the Department of American and Oceanian Affairs.^[3]

From 2004 to 2006, Wang was seconded to Yunnan Province, where he served as a member of the Standing Committee of the Dehong Dai and Jingpo Autonomous Prefectural Committee and as vice governor of the prefecture. Returning to the Ministry of Commerce in 2006, he was appointed director-general of the Department of International Affairs and later promoted to assistant minister and member of the Party Leadership Group.^[4]

Between 2010 and 2013, Wang served as vice minister of commerce and a member of the Party Leadership Group. In 2013, he was appointed vice minister of foreign affairs, a position he held until 2019.^[5][6] From 2019 to 2025, Wang served as Party secretary and president of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs.^[7][8]

In addition to his diplomatic career, Wang serves as president of the United Nations Association of China and is a spokesperson for the First Session of the 14th National People's Congress.^[9]