Exclusive | China taps its envoy to Israel as new European Union ambassador
- Cai Run, in Tel Aviv since 2021, is filling a post vacant since Fu Cong left Brussels four months ago to become Beijing’s representative at the United Nations
China has nominated its ambassador to Israel to be its next envoy to the European Union, aiming to fill a vacancy that has been open since March.
Cai Run, a career diplomat, is expected to take up his position in September, the South China Morning Post has learned. He replaces Fu Cong, who left Brussels to become Beijing’s ambassador to the UN in New York four months ago.
Cai has been placed in Tel Aviv since 2021, according to a resume posted on the Chinese foreign ministry’s website.
Between 2015 and 2020, he was China’s envoy to Portugal and, between various stints in Beijing, spent several years as a minister counsellor at the country’s embassy in the United States.
He returns to Europe at a crunch time in the EU’s relationship with China, which has nosedived due to Beijing’s alleged support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. China proclaims to be neutral in the war, but is broadly seen to have taken Moscow’s side, particularly in reportedly exporting dual-use products that have military applications.
Cai will also need to deal with an escalating series of trade disputes.
