Kathmandu, November 23– China has proposed Chen Song, one of its senior diplomats, as the new ambassador for Nepal, a Nepali media reported Wednesday.
Chen is currently deputy director general at Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He will replace Hou Yanqi who has already returned to China after completing her four-year long tenure in October. Hou had assumed the office in Kathmandu in December 2018, The Kathmandu Post reported.
The Chinese side informally communicated to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about its decision to appoint Chen as the new envoy but no official communication has been made yet, according to one foreign ministry official.
“I came to know about the decision yesterday,” Bishnu Pukar Shrestha, Nepali ambassador to China told the Post over the phone, “Since Chen is looking after Nepal affairs at the Chinese foreign ministry, he is quite familiar with Nepal related issues.”
Shrestha has already congratulated Chen who will take up his assignment in Kathmandu after China officially informs the government of Nepal.
Chen is a familiar face inside Nepal’s diplomatic community dealing with China as he has been a part of several meetings with Nepali officials in the past.
Shrestha said that the Chinese side will probably communicate its decision to appoint Chen as its new ambassador to the government of Nepal today.
Hou, the outgoing Chinese Ambassador to Nepal, has been transferred to look after ASEAN nations in Indonesia.
