This day, 6 January, in 1876, Guo Songtao, the first Chinese minister based abroad and the first minister of the Qing Dynasty to the United Kingdom, landed at the Port of Southampton. During his time in the UK, Guo...
This day, 20 January, in 1861, the Qing Dynasty established the Prime Minister’s Office for Foreign Affairs. Dispatching envoys and international students to foreign countries, and managing affairs such as trade, customs, coastal defense and the ordering of weapons,...
This day, 19 January, in 2016, President Xi Jinping met with Iyad bin Amin Madani, Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Riyadh. It was the first time that a Chinese president had met with an OIC...
This day, 18 January, in 2017, President Xi Jinping made the first visit by a Chinese head of state to the International Olympic Committee headquarters. There, he met with Committee President Thomas Bach and wrote an inscription at the...
This day, 17 January, in 1974, Huang Hua, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations, pointed out that when the Security Council passed a resolution to list Chinese as one of its working languages, along with English, French,...
This day, 16 January, in 1995, Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Qian Qichen visited Nigeria, Togo, Benin and elsewhere during his annual new year visit to Africa. Writing in “Ten Notes on Diplomacy”, Qian said of China and...
This day, 15 January, in 1988, Vice Foreign Minister Zhou Nan and Portuguese Ambassador to China Octavio Neto Valerio exchanged letters of approval in Beijing for the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration on Macau, laying a legal foundation for Macau’s return...
This day, 14 January, in 1998, at the National Financial Work Conference, Vice Premier Zhu Rongji stated the Chinese government would provide selfless assistance to countries most affected by the Asian financial crisis with an attitude of sympathy and...
