Zhang Zhijun, the former director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council and the current deputy director of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress of China, was elected as the new president of the China Mainland Association for Astronomy today.
According to the Economic Daily report, the China Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits held the first meeting of the 4th Council in Beijing on the morning of the 27th to produce a new leadership.
The meeting elected Zhang Zhijun as the new president of the ARATS, Long Mingbiao, the current deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, as the executive vice president, and Sun Yafu and Li Yafei will continue to serve as vice presidents.
In addition, Wang Yang, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, met with all representatives and delivered a speech before the meeting.Liu Jieyi, director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, also attended the meeting and delivered a speech.
Zhang Zhijun was born in 1953, entered Peking University in 1971, and then went to study in the UK. In 1975, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China. In 2009, he was transferred to the Executive Vice Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. He then succeeded the current Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in 2013.Take charge of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council.
He was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress in March this year, and subsequently served as the third-ranked vice-chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress.
