UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday (January 22nd) named a Chinese ambassador, Huang Xia, as his new envoy for the Great Lakes region of eastern Africa. A first for Beijing that illustrates its growing role in the United Nations. It is „the first Chinese special envoy , “ welcomed a Chinese diplomatic source to AFP, the UN saying it has not seen a precedent for twenty years.
Highly involved diplomatically and economically in Africa, China has recently become the second largest financial contributor to the UN after the United States, a position hitherto occupied by Japan. China now accounts for 12% of the UN’s operating budget and 15% of the peace operations.
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A permanent member of the Security Council with a veto, Beijing is also a major troop contributor to these UN peacekeeping missions, with more than 2,500 Chinese peacekeepers deployed in Mali, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), among others. in South Sudan or Lebanon.
Thirty years of diplomatic experience
The Great Lakes region, which the United Nations has been trying to stabilize for several years through cross-cutting action in addition to bilateral interventions, includes countries such as Burundi, Uganda, the DRC and Rwanda. Antonio Guterres‘ new special envoy for this region will succeed Algerian Said Djinnit, who has completed more than four years of mission. The office of the Great Lakes emissary is located in Nairobi.
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Mr. Xia has more than thirty years of diplomatic experience in the world, including in Africa where he has held several high offices, the UN said in a statement. During his career, this diplomat has been China’s ambassador to Niger (2009-2012), Senegal (2012-2015) and the DRC (2015-2018). Previously, he had also worked in Chinese embassies in Gabon and France. Born in 1962, Mr. Xia is married and has a son.
