Xie Xiaoyan

Xie Xiaoyan (; born March 1954) is a Chinese diplomat and special envoy. He has served as Special Envoy for Syria Affairs and previously served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to Iran and Ethiopia, concurrently serving as representative to the African Union.

Biography

Xie was born in Liaoning Province in March 1954 and graduated from university. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in 1978. During the early years of his diplomatic career, Xie served at the Embassy of China in Canada and later worked in the Department of American and Oceanian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He subsequently held diplomatic postings at the Embassy of China in Australia, where he served successively as attaché, third secretary, and second secretary.

Between 1990 and 1996, Xie returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and held positions including second secretary, deputy division director, and first secretary in the Department of American and Oceanian Affairs. From 1996 to 2000, he served again in Canada as first secretary and counsellor. From 2000 to 2002, Xie was counsellor at the Embassy of China in Australia. He later returned to Beijing and served as deputy director of the Policy Research Office and deputy director-general of the Policy Planning Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In November 2007, Xie was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to the Islamic Republic of Iran, serving until July 2010. In November 2011, Xie became Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People's Republic of China to Ethiopia, while concurrently serving as Representative of China to the African Union. He remained in office until February 2015.

Following his ambassadorial service, Xie became deputy secretary-general of the Association for Promoting South-South Cooperation in April 2015. In March 2016, he was appointed Special Envoy for Syria Affairs.