Introduction
Liu Xiaoming (Chinese: 刘晓明; born January 1956) is a Chinese diplomat who has served as the current Ambassador of China to the United Kingdom since 2010 under the former and current Chinese leaders, Hu Jintao (2010–2012) and Xi Jinping (2012–incumbent).
Biography
Liu graduated from Dalian University of Foreign Languages with a major in English and undertook further studies in the United States, obtaining a master's degree in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in 1983.
Between 2001 and 2003, Liu acted as China's ambassador in Egypt, and from 2006 to 2010 as Chinese ambassador in North Korea. In 2010 he replaced Fu Ying as Chinese ambassador in the UK.
In 2014, Liu likened Japan to Lord Voldemort, the villain in the Harry Potter series, by writing in The Telegraph: "If militarism is like the haunting Voldemort of Japan, the Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo is a kind of horcrux, representing the darkest parts of that nation's soul." In response, Keiichi Hayashi, the Japanese ambassador to the UK, wrote an op-ed in the same newspaper headlined: "China risks becoming Asia's Voldemort".
In 2018, Liu published a signed article in The Guardian on the subject of the US-China trade war, noting that while China was still open to negotiation, the US is maintaining a position of unilateralism. In early May 2018, Liu noted that the North Korean government was closely watching the details surrounding the United States withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.
Hong Kong protests
In July 2019, Liu criticised the British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, saying that it was "totally wrong ... to talk about freedom" after the 2019 Hong Kong protests and that instead it was "a matter about breaking laws in Hong Kong". The same day, Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang had said Hunt was "obsessed with the bad habit of criticizing and lecturing on other countries' affairs condescendingly". This resulted in Liu being summoned to the Foreign Office to explain the "unacceptable and inaccurate" comments and Hunt warning of "serious consequences" if China exercised a human rights crackdown because of the protests.
In November 2019, Liu said that British politicians and the Foreign Affairs Select Committee were making "irresponsible remarks on Hong Kong" and that Western powers were "taking sides" in what he said were China's internal affairs. Liu also said in a tweet that countries interfering in Hong Kong were "only shooting [themselves] in the foot".