Chai Zemin

Chai Zemin (Chinese: 柴泽民; Pinyin: Chái Zémín; Wade-Giles: Ch’ai Tsê-min; October, 1916 – June 7, 2010^[1]) was a Chinese diplomat and the first of the People's Republic of China's ambassadors to the United States of America after the normalization of the Sino-US relationship in 1979.

Chai Zemin was born in October, 1916 in an ordinary family in Wenxi, Shanxi. After he graduated from high school, be became politically active and joined the Communist Party of China.

Chai's career as a diplomat started in December, 1960 when he entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. He was appointed China's ambassador to Hungary in 1961, to Guinea in 1964, and to Egypt in 1970.

In 1975, China and Thailand established diplomatic relations, and Chai became the first China's ambassador to Thailand. During his two-and-half-year term in Thailand, he experienced two general elections, three coups d'état, four different prime ministers and five different governments in the country. It had been a great challenge for him to work in such a turbulent environment, and the King of Thailand awarded him a White Elephant Medal for his diplomatic achievement.

In the summer of 1978, China and the United States started negotiations on normalizing relations between the two countries, and Chai Zemin took the position of director in the People's Republic of China Liaison Office (PRCLO) in Washington, D.C. and participated in the negotiations. It was agreed at the end of 1978 that China and the United States would officially establish relations on January 1, 1979 and set up embassies and appoint ambassadors to each other's country. Chai thus became the first China's ambassador to the United States thirty years after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

In the fall of 1981, the Michigan State University conferred an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws on Chai for his contributions to the China–US relations.

In 1983, Chai Zeming left his ambassador position and assumed the title of vice director of the Chinese Foreign Affairs Society, and had since been a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference for three terms.

In early 1990s, Chai resigned his position at the Chinese Foreign Affairs Society, and afterwards, he became director and consultant of a number of other societies and organizations.

References

v t e China's Ambassadors to the U.S. Qing ministers to the U.S. 1875-1912 Chen Lanbin 1875–81 Zheng Zaoru 1881–85 Zhang Yinheng 1885–89 Cui Guoyin 1889–93 Yang Ru 1893–96 Wu Tingfang 1896–1902 Liang Cheng 1902–07 Wu Tingfang 1907–09 Zhang Yintang 1909–11 Alfred Sao-ke Sze 1911–12 ROC's envoys to the U.S. 1912–35 Zhang Yintang 1912–13 Xia Xiefu 1913–15 V.K. Wellington Koo 1915–20 Alfred Sao-ke Sze 1920–29 Wu Chaoshu 1929–31 Yan Huiqing 1931–33 Alfred Sao-ke Sze 1933–35 ROC's ambassadors to the U.S. 1935–79 Alfred Sao-ke Sze 1935–36 Wang Zhengting 1936–38 Hu Shih 1938–42 Wei Tao-ming 1942–46 V.K. Wellington Koo 1946–56 Dong Xianguang 1956–58 George Yeh 1958–61 Tsiang Tingfu 1961–65 Zhou Shukai 1965–71 James Shen 1971–79 Taiwanese representatives to the U.S. 1979 – Present Xia Gongquan 1979–81 Cai Weiping 1981–82 Frederick Chien 1982–88 Ding Maoshi 1988–94 Lu Zhaozhong 1994–96 Jason Hu 1996–97 Chen Xifan 1997–2000 Cheng Jianren 2000–04 David Lee 2004–07 Joseph Wu 2007–08 Yuan Jiansheng 2008–Present Chiefs of the PRC Liaison Office in the U.S. 1973–79 Huang Zhen 1973–77 Chai Zemin 1978–79 PRC's ambassadors to the U.S. 1979–Present Chai Zemin 1979–82 Zhang Wenjin 1983–85 Han Xu 1985–89 Zhu Qizhen 1989–93 Li Daoyu 1993–98 Li Zhaoxing 1998–2001 Yang Jiechi 2001–05 Zhou Wenzhong 2005–10 Zhang Yesui 2010–13 Cui Tiankai 2013–Present