India appoints Vikram K. Doraiswami as Ambassador to China

India on Thursday appointed Vikram K. Doraiswami as its next Ambassador to China, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.

He is currently serving as India’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom and is expected to take up the new assignment shortly. He will succeed Pradeep Kumar Rawat.

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India's decision to send the senior diplomat to Beijing comes amid efforts by the two sides to rebuild the bilateral ties that came under severe strain following the more than four-year border standoff in eastern Ladakh.

Doraiswami, a 1992-batch Indian Foreign Service officer, brings extensive diplomatic experience, including a previous stint in Beijing where he served for about four years in the late 1990s. He has also held key positions across missions in Hong Kong, New York and Johannesburg, and served as Consul General in South Africa.

Prior to his posting in London, Doraiswami was India’s High Commissioner to Bangladesh. Over the years, he has also worked in the Prime Minister’s Office as Private Secretary to the Prime Minister and held senior roles at the MEA, including heading divisions such as SAARC and the Indo-Pacific.

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He has served as Ambassador to Uzbekistan and South Korea, and was involved in coordinating the BRICS Summit in New Delhi in 2012. In 2019, he was appointed Additional Secretary for International Organizations and Summits.

Doraiswami holds a master’s degree in history from Delhi University and has training in Chinese language from the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is fluent in Chinese, French and Korean.

(With inputs from ANI)