Zhang Wenjin, a Chinese diplomat and former Chinese ambassador to the United States, has died
Zhang Wenjin (Zhang Wenjin, 13.7.1914 – 18.2.1991), formerly known as Zhang Hongdao and Zhang Zhenfu. Originally from Sanmen County, Zhejiang Province, he was born in Beijing. He was Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China (1978.1~1982.10).
In the autumn of 1927, he went to Germany to study, and in January 1929, he joined the Chinese speech group of the German Communist Youth League and the German Communist Party. At the end of 1931, he returned to China to participate in the Anti-Japanese Salvation Movement. In 1935, he was admitted to Tsinghua University with honors. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he was engaged in underground party work in the Chinese Red Cross Ambulance Corps. In 1943, he received a bachelor's degree in engineering from Tsinghua University. At the end of 1944, he was transferred to the Chongqing office of the Eighteenth Group Army and served as a member of the foreign affairs team of the Chongqing office. Later, he served as deputy head of the foreign affairs group of the CPC delegation in Nanjing, translated by Zhou Enlai, and deputy director of the Compilation Department of the Foreign Affairs Group of the CPC Central Committee. At the beginning of 1949, Tianjin was liberated and he was appointed director of the Foreign Affairs Department of the Tianjin Municipal People's Government.
In 1954, he was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and participated in the Geneva Conference of the Chinese Government Delegation, serving as secretary and head of the translation team. From September 1954 to July 1966, he successively served as director of the Second Asia Department, the director of the Asia Department, and the director of the First Asia Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, participated in the border negotiations, demarcation and demarcation of the border between China and Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and other countries, and served as the chief representative of the Chinese side in the first round of meetings between Chinese and Indian government officials on the border issue. From August 1966 to February 1967, he was The Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan. From October 1969 to January 1971, he was a member of the Sino-Soviet border negotiation delegation. From January 1971 to May 1972, he served as Director general of the U.S. and U.S. Department, and from May 1972 to September 1973, he served as Assistant Minister and Director of the U.S. and U.S. Department, and participated in the important work of the normalization process of Sino-US relations. From September 1973 to December 1976, he was The Chinese Ambassador to Canada.
During his tenure as Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, he visited Spain and Portugal in February 1980 and led a delegation to the meeting of the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, and a working visit to the United States in March of the same year. In March 1981, he led a delegation to attend the 37th session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific; in April he visited Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico; in September, he led a delegation to the 36th session of the United Nations General Assembly; in October, he visited Malta and signed the Sino-Malaysian Joint Communiqué. In August 1982, he led a delegation to attend the Second United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. From March 1983 to April 1985, he was Ambassador to the United States. Since 1986, he has been engaged in people-to-people diplomacy and has served as the president of the association of Chinese people for friendship with foreign countries. He is a member of the Standing Committee of the Seventh National People's Congress and vice chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
He died in Beijing on February 18, 1991.
