China's Lacking Seasoned Diplomats As It Boosts Its Global Profile

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. Wikipedia

SCMP: Is China headed for a diplomatic crisis of its own making?

As Beijing boosts its global profile, foreign policy establishment worries about ageing senior diplomatic line-up and a shortage of first-rate younger diplomats.

As Beijing seeks to accelerate China’s rise to superpower status, the expanded global ambitions set out by President Xi Jinping may have already hit a snag.

While Americans worry about US President Donald Trump’s inward-looking vision of Washington’s global role and the steep budget cuts he has proposed for the State Department, which many warn are causing a US foreign service brain drain, Beijing seems to have a talent gap of its own to deal with.

With China becoming increasingly assertive on a range of global issues, its diplomatic service is expanding at a dazzling speed.

However, the average age of China’s more than 5,200 diplomats stands at around 38, with nearly half of them below 35, mostly entry-level or inexperienced diplomats and youth hires, according to state media reports.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: The Chinese diplomats that I knew in the 1980s were good. The ones I met in the UN so so. They were all over 40 .... and the senior ones were in their 50s. But reading the above report .... where nearly half of Beijing's current diplomatic corp is under 35?!?!?! Now that is a shocking change. On a side note .... the U.S. State Department has 13,000 foreign employees to China's 5,200.