Ji Pengfei

Ji Pengfei (simplified Chinese: 姬鹏飞; traditional Chinese: 姬鵬飛; pinyin: Jī Péngfēi; February 2, 1910 - February 10, 2000) was a politician in the People's Republic of China.

Biography

Ji Pengfei was born in Linyi, Yuncheng, Shanxi in 1910. He joined the Chinese Red Army in 1931, and the Communist Party of China in 1933.

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Ji Pengfei worked with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China, and led diplomatic missions to the German Democratic Republic before being appointed as China's first ambassador to the GDR in 1953, being the youngest Chinese ambassador at 43. He was called back home to serve as vice-minister of Foreign Affairs in 1955.

When the Cultural Revolution broke out, he was initially targeted as member of the counter-revolutionary clique ruling the Foreign Ministry, along with Chen Yi and Qiao Guanhua. Nevertheless, he was relatively untouched as he remained at his post. After Chen Yi died in 1972, Ji Pengfei succeeded him as Foreign Minister until 1974, and was elected CPC Central Committee member. He was appointed secretary-general of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in 1975, and confirmed in 1978.

In the post-Cultural Revolution period, Ji Pengfei held several posts. In 1979 he was appointed head of the International Liaison Department of the CPC Central Committee, then vice-premier and secretary-general of the State Council from 1980 to 1982, and finally head of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office. He also served as Standing Committee member of the Central Advisory Commission, a Party body aimed at helping the retirement of elder officials.

In 1999, his son, Ji Shengde, a senior member of the People's Liberation Army intelligence, was arrested and tried for corruption, selling classified information and diverting public funds, and was sentenced to death penalty. It was rumored that Ji Pengfei killed himself in protest by taking a big amount of sleep pills. Later, Ji Shengde's penalty was commuted to 20 years in prison as he accepted to return stolen money and denounce other abuses.

Ji Pengfei was praised by the Xinhua News Agency as an outstanding communist fighter, and greatly lauded again in 2010 at a ceremony in the Great Hall of the People to celebrate his 100th birth anniversary.

External links

• http://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-713327/Ji-Pengfei
• http://www.fmprc.gov.cn/eng/ziliao/wjrw/3606/t44149.htm