Liu Guangyuan, former Chinese Ambassador to Poland Photo: Courtesy of the Chinese Embassy in Poland

China's central government has appointed Liu Guangyuan as the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, replacing Xie Feng, Xinhua News Agency reported on Wednesday. 

Liu served as the ambassador of the Chinese embassy in Poland since 2018 before finishing his term this year. On April 19, he tweeted, "After serving as Chinese Ambassador to Poland for 3 years, it's time to say goodbye to my friends."

Liu has also served in Chinese embassies in several other countries including the US and countries in Africa. 

Since joining Twitter in March 2020, Liu has been quite active on Twitter, tweeting on China's policies, culture, trade information, exchanges with the EU and other countries in both English and Polish. In a March tweet, he commented on the improvement of the electoral system in Hong Kong, saying that "it will help the LegCo of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region resume normal operation and the Hong Kong government carry out policies to improve people's livelihoods."

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam welcomed the appointment of Liu, the Hong Kong government said on Wednesday.

On numerous occasions in recent years when the Hong Kong government was subject to unfair attacks by some foreign government officials and politicians, the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong strongly refuted them to set the record straight, Lam said.

Lam said that Liu is a veteran diplomat and she strongly believed that under his leadership, the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong will continue to work closely with the Hong Kong government to take forward various work.

Xie Feng served as the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in Hong Kong from 2017. He is currently the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

Global Times