On August 2, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang announced that at the invitation of the Colombian government, Li Xiaopeng, Special Envoy of the President and Minister of Transport, will go to Bogotá to attend the Colombian Presidential Power Transfer Ceremony on August 7.
Li Xiaopeng (data map)
According to reports, since China and Colombia established diplomatic relations in 1980, bilateral relations have developed soundly.The two countries have maintained close high-level exchanges, continuously consolidated political mutual trust, continued to advance practical cooperation in various fields, and achieved fruitful cultural exchanges. At the invitation of the Colombian government, President Xi Jinping decided to send a special envoy to attend the Colombian Presidential Power Transfer Ceremony, which shows the great importance China attaches to China-Colombia relations.China looks forward to working with the new Colombian government to build on the past and usher in the future, so as to promote the sustained and in-depth development of bilateral relations, so as to better benefit the two countries and the two peoples.
On June 17, the second round of voting in the Colombian presidential election was completed. The right-wing candidate Duque defeated the left-wing candidate Pietro and was elected the new president of Colombia.Earlier, Xinhua News Agency reported that Duke will be sworn in on August 7 and will serve until 2022.
Prior to this, many top leaders of ministries and commissions of the State Council also participated in the power transfer ceremony of the presidents of other countries as special envoys of the leaders of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
From March 10 to 13, 2014, Yang Chuantang, then Minister of Transport, visited Chile as a special envoy of the leaders of the Chinese President to attend the handover ceremony of the Chilean President.
Yang Chuantang is currently also serving as the party secretary of the Ministry of Transport in the capacity of vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, partnering with Li Xiaopeng in the party and government.
From May 7th to 8th, 2014, Han Changfu, the special envoy of the Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and Minister of Agriculture (the current Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs), attended the power transfer ceremony of the President of Costa Rica, handed over the letter signed by the Chairman of the Chinese President, and met with the newPresident Solis.
On July 28, 2016, then Minister of Environmental Protection Chen Jining, as the special envoy of the Chinese leader, went to Peru to attend the presidential handover ceremony.Before attending the ceremony, Chen Jining met with President-elect Pedro Kuczynski and outgoing President Humala respectively. Chen Jining conveyed to Kuczynski the greetings from Chairman Xi and a letter signed by President Xi.
On May 24, 2017, Chen Baosheng, special envoy of the Chinese leader and Minister of Education, attended the Ecuadorian presidential handover ceremony and met with the new Ecuadorian president Moreno.Chen Baosheng conveyed to Moreno the warm congratulations and best wishes from Chairman China. Moreno thanked Chairman China for sending a special envoy to attend the handover ceremony of the President of Ecuador, and asked Chen Baosheng to convey his cordial greetings to Chairman China.
It is understood that the special envoy of the President of the country is a temporary diplomatic representative sent by a country to another country with a special mission. It is authorized one at a time. After completing the mission, the status of the special envoy will automatically terminate.
The tasks of the President’s special envoy can be roughly divided into two categories, one is ceremonial, including attending a country’s National Day ceremony, Independence Day celebration, the inauguration or funeral of the head of state, the crowning ceremony or wedding of the monarch, etc.; the other is political, such as attending international conferences, conveying the president's message to the other party, etc. Previously this role was mostly headed by State Council ministries, but there were also national leaders. Parallel to the chairman's special envoy is the general secretary's special envoy, which appears in party diplomacy.Since the International Liaison Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China is the functional department responsible for the foreign affairs of the Communist Party of China, Song Tao, head of the International Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, has visited Laos, Vietnam and North Korea as the special envoy of the General Secretary several times.
