Wu Dawei ( ; ; born 1946) was the previous special representative for Korean Peninsula Affairs and former Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

Personal life

Wu was born in 1946 in

Heilongjiang Heilongjiang () formerly romanized as Heilungkiang, is a province in northeast China. The standard one-character abbreviation for the province is (). It was formerly romanized as "Heilungkiang". It is the northernmost and easternmost province ...

province,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. He attended the

Beijing Foreign Studies University Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU; ), is a public university in Beijing, China. BFSU boasts the oldest language programs in China offering the largest number of foreign language majors on different educational levels. Located in Haidia ...

before joining the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

. Wu is married and has one daughter.

Career

Wu's career has largely taken him back and forth between China and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. His first assignment with the

was as an attaché to the Chinese embassy in Japan, lasting from 1973 to 1979. He returned to China in 1979 to take a position in the Ministry Department of Asian Affairs, and in 1980 was promoted to deputy office director of the General Office. He returned to Japan again in 1985 to serve as second secretary and later first secretary in the Chinese embassy. In 1994, he was posted back to Japan as minister counselor. Wu's first ambassadorial-level assignment was to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

in 1998. Following his time in South Korea, Wu became China's ambassador to Japan in 2001. He returned to China to take up his post as Vice Minister of Foreign affairs at the end of that assignment. In 2005, Wu acted as the chairman to the fourth round of

Six-party talks The six-party talks aimed to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns as a result of the North Korean nuclear weapons program. There was a series of meetings with six participating states in Beijing: * China * Japan * North Korea ...

looking to bring a peaceful resolution to security concerns on the Korean Peninsula. He retained the position of chairman until the dissolution of the talks in 2007.

Controversies

Controversies which arose during his tenure there include his 1999 remarks in which he condemned South Korean and non-governmental organisation involvement with the issue of

North Korean refugees Since the division of Korea after the end of World War II, North Koreans have fled from the country in spite of legal punishment for political, ideological, religious, economic, moral, personal, or nutritional reasons. Such North Koreans are re ...

northeast China Northeast China or Northeastern China () is a geographical region of China, which is often referred to as "Manchuria" or "Inner Manchuria" by surrounding countries and the West. It usually corresponds specifically to the three provinces east of t ...

, deriding it as "neo-interventionism", and claimed that the safety of refugees repatriated to North Korea had been guaranteed. His comments spurred South Korean

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

activists to hold protests at the Chinese embassy in Seoul and circulate a petition urging the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

to grant refugee status to North Koreans in China.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wu, Dawei Ambassadors of China to Japan People's Republic of China politicians from Heilongjiang 1946 births Living people Recipients of the Order of Friendship (North Korea) People from Suihua Ambassadors of China to South Korea