Beijing: China on Wednesday appointed career diplomat Wei Wei, its current envoy to Singapore, as the country's new Ambassador to India, succeeding Zhang Yan.
President Hu Jintao has appointed Wei Wei, 57, as China's new ambassador to India, replacing Zhang, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Hu made the appointment in line with a decision made by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislature.
Wei has earlier worked as Chinese diplomat in Brunei, Ethiopia, Kenya and Zimbabwe.
He would be taking over the post at a time when India-China relations are on a better footing, with both the countries involved in comprehensive talks to improve ties on all fronts, including in the area of defence.
The two countries just concluded the fifth round of Annual Defence Dialogue (ADD) on a positive note.
China's new leader Xi Jinping in a letter had assured Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that his country would pay "great importance" to developing bilateral ties as their cooperation has brought "substantial benefits" to both sides.
"China will, as it has been doing, pay great importance to developing relations with India and expects to carry out close cooperation with India to create a brighter future of their bilateral relations," Xi wrote in a letter to Singh last week.
PTI
First Published: Wednesday, January 16, 2013, 22:19