Hua Chunying (; born 24 April 1970) is a Chinese official and former diplomat serving as

spokesperson A spokesperson, spokesman, or spokeswoman, is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others. Duties and function In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have receiv ...

for the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China () is the first-ranked executive department of the State Council of the Chinese government, responsible for the foreign relations of the People's Republic of China. It is le ...

since 2012 and as the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs since 2021. Hua was the fifth spokeswoman and 27th spokesperson since the position was established in the ministry in 1983.

Biography

Hua was born in

Huai'an Huai'an (), formerly called Huaiyin () until 2001, is a prefecture-level city in the central part of Jiangsu province in Eastern China. Huai'an is situated almost directly south of Lianyungang, southeast of Suqian, northwest of Yancheng, a ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with it ...

. Both her parents were officials; her father was formerly secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the

Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Ci ...

Huai'an County Huai'an County () is a county in the northwest of Hebei, China. It is under the administration of Zhangjiakou Zhangjiakou (; ; ) also known as Kalgan and by several other names, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hebei province in ...

, and her mother was the deputy director of a local district.Alt URL
She graduated from

Nanjing University Nanjing University (NJU; ) is a national public research university in Nanjing, Jiangsu. It is a member of C9 League and a Class A Double First Class University designated by the Chinese central government. NJU has two main campuses: the Xian ...

in 1992, where she majored in

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...

at the School of Foreign Languages. After graduation, Hua was appointed as an official to the Department of Western Europe. Over a period of 20 years, Hua worked her way up to the position of spokeswoman. From 1995, she spent four years in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

as an attaché. During 2003 to 2010, she was promoted from secretary to counselor in China's mission to the European Union. In 2012, Hua was promoted to deputy director of the Foreign Ministry Information Department of the People's Republic of China. She served concurrently as the spokeswoman for the

. In February 2018, during a prolonged absence at the Foreign Ministry, there were reports Hua was investigated for storing large amounts of U.S. dollars in her home. On March 1, 2018, Hua returned to work as Foreign Ministry spokeswoman. On July 18, 2019, she was appointed director of the Foreign Ministry Information Department of the People's Republic of China, succeeding Lu Kang. She became the second female director-general of the Information Department after

Gong Peng Gong Peng (October 10, 1914 – September 20, 1970), born Gong Cisheng and also known as Gong Weihang, was a Chinese wartime spokeswoman for the Chinese Communist Party. After 1949 she was an official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the ...

, the very first director-general of this department. In October 2021, she was promoted to assistant minister of foreign affairs. Hua will be overseeing the ministry’s work related to information, protocol and translation.

Commentary

Hua has criticized the US plea to release

Pu Zhiqiang Pu Zhiqiang (born 17 January 1965) is a Chinese civil rights lawyer who specialises in press freedom, defamation, and product safety, and other issues. Based in Beijing, he is an executive partner of the Huayi Law Firm. Pu is known for being a ...

, saying "I think lots of people have the same feeling with me, that some people in the United States have hearts that are too big and hands that are too long. Washington should address human rights problems at home and stop trying to be the world's policeman or judge." In 2021, she compared the

January 6 United States Capitol attack On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of then- U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The mob was seeking to keep Trump in p ...

with the 2019

storming of the Legislative Council Complex On 1 July 2019, anti-government activists in Hong Kong sieged, broke into, and subsequently occupied the Legislative Council Complex during the campaign to halt the enactment of the 2019 Hong Kong extradition bill, Fugitive Offenders amendment ...

COVID-19 conspiracy theory

In January 2021, Hua renewed questions about the

SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a ...

virus originating in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

at the Fort Detrick Army Medical Command Installation. This conspiracy theory quickly went trending on the Chinese social media platform Weibo, and Hua continued to cite evidence on Twitter, while asking the government of the United States to open up Fort Detrick for further investigation to determine if it is the source of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Social media

In February 2021, Hua said that many Western officials use Weibo and Wechat, and asked "Why can't Chinese people use Twitter or Facebook when foreigners can use Chinese social media platforms?" Twitter and Facebook have been banned by the mainland Chinese government since 2009.

Taiwan

In August 2022, Hua warned that

Nancy Pelosi Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...

should not visit Taiwan, threatening that "We closely follow Pelosi's itinerary. If the U.S. insists on going its own way, China will take firm and powerful measures to safeguard China’s sovereignty and security interests." Later that month, after Pelosi's visit, Hua made a tweet asserting that Taiwan was a part of China because "Baidu Maps that there are 38 Shandong dumpling restaurants and 67 Shanxi noodle restaurants in Taipei." The tweet was ridiculed by other Twitter users, who replied with examples of restaurant listings across the world.

Personal life

Hua Chunying enjoys playing

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hua, Chunying 1970 births People's Republic of China politicians from Jiangsu Nanjing University alumni Living people Chinese Communist Party politicians from Jiangsu Politicians from Huai'an 21st-century Chinese women politicians 21st-century Chinese politicians Spokespersons for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China Women government ministers of China