Lu Kang (diplomat)

Lu Kang (Chinese: 陆慷; born May 1968) is a Chinese diplomat who currently serves as the Director of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China.

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Lu.

Lu Kang
陆慷
Lu Kang at a Chinese Foreign Ministry press conference in 2015.
Director of the Foreign Ministry North American and Oceanian Affairs Department of the People's Republic of China
Incumbent
Assumed office 18 July 2019
Minister	Wang Yi
Director of Foreign Ministry Information Department of the People's Republic of China
In office 2015 – 18 July 2019
Succeeded by	Hua Chunying
Personal details
Born	May 1968 (age 52) Jiangsu, China
Nationality	Chinese
Political party	Communist Party of China
Residence	Beijing
Occupation	Politician, diplomat
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	陸慷
Simplified Chinese	陆慷
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lù Kāng

Life

In 1993, Lu joined the Foreign Service and from 1993 to 1996 Lu served as a consultant and attaché for the Department of International Organizations and Conferences of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From 1996 to 1999 he was assigned to the mission at the UN headquarters in New York City. Subsequently, from 1999 to 2000 he was Secretary of the Third Class in the Department of International Organizations and Conferences.

From 2000 to 2001 he attended the National University of Singapore, from which he graduated with a Master in Public Policy. As of 2001, he served as second-level legation secretary, deputy head of department, department head of the arms control and disarmament department, and served until 2006. From 2006 he was then Counselor in Dublin, Ireland until 2008.

From 2008 to 2010, he served as a Legation Counselor, Deputy Director-General of the Department of International Organizations and Conferences, and led the Chinese delegation to sessions of the Asia-Pacific Economic Community. As of 2010, he was Deputy General Director of the Department of North American and Oceanic Affairs. From 2012 to 2015, he served as Minister in Washington, D.C. Since 2015, he has been Director-General of the Information Division, a post which includes the function of Speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China.[1]

On March 14, 2016, he spoke about the 2001 Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship as well as Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to Russia. Lu also spoke about Eurasian Economic Union, the alignment of the Silk Road Economic Belt and missile tests on Korean Peninsula, as well as resumption of six-party talks regarding those tests. Lu was very critical of the THAAD defense system that was introduced to South Korea by the United States to defend it against possible nuclear attack from DPRK, citing a "direct harm [of] the strategic security interests [for] China and Russia".[2]

Regarding Syrian Civil War, Lu commented that he supports Geneva peace talks and blasted China-India Line of Actual Control crossing as media hype.[2]

In 2017, he stated that the Sino-British Joint Declaration "no longer had any practical significance" with regards to the governance of Hong Kong, a view that was disputed by the British Foreign Office.[3]

On July 18, 2019, he was appointed director of the Foreign Ministry North American and Oceanian Affairs Department of the People's Republic of China.[4] He says China has "freedom of religion".[5]

References

1. "Chinese Embassy Minister Lu Kang". Retrieved 2019-10-22.
2. "Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang's Regular Press Conference on March 14, 2016". Retrieved 2019-10-22.
3. "China says Sino-British Joint Declaration on Hong Kong no longer has meaning". Retrieved 2019-11-14.
4. 华春莹接棒陆慷任外交部新闻司司长 陆慷新职公开. 163.com (in Chinese). 2019-07-22. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
5. "Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang's Regular Press Conference on July 18, 2019". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. Retrieved 2019-10-22.