Lin Jian (; born May 1977) is a Chinese diplomat who has been serving as the 34th spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and deputy director-general of the Department of Press, Communication, and Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China since March 2024. Lin has been working for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2020 and was dispatched to serve as party secretary and director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the

Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (新疆生产建设兵团; abbreviated as 新疆兵团, or XPCC in English), also known as ''Bingtuan'', trading with the external name China Xinjian Group, is a state-owned enterprise and parami ...

from 2020 to 2024.

Biography

Lin was born into a military family in

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

, in May 1977. Lin attended Wuhan Foreign Languages School for high school and graduated in 1995. He went on for undergraduate education and graduated from

Beijing Foreign Studies University Beijing Foreign Studies University (BFSU; ) is a public university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education. The university is part of Project 211 and the Double First-Class Construction. The Internation ...

with a major in English in 1999. After graduation, he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1999 and was selected to study abroad in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. He was later assigned to the Political Office at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Kingdom of Denmark. Since then, he had served as political counselor at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the

Republic of Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and as counselor at the Department of European Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China. From 2020 to 2024, he was dispatched to serve as party secretary and director of the Foreign Affairs Office of the

. During his tenure in Xinjiang, in 2022, he took part in talks seeking to boost exchanges in trade and tourism between Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs

On 18 March 2024, Lin was appointed as the 34th spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as deputy director-general of the Department of Press, Communication, and Public Diplomacy of the ministry. On the same day, he presided his first regular press conference.

Cyber attack accusations

In March 2024, Lin accused the United Kingdom and the United States of "political manipulation" after both of these countries blamed a Chinese state-run cyber unit over an alleged cyber attack on Britain's electoral commission and Members of Parliament. He further added that both the US and the UK should "stop politicising cyber security issues".

South China Sea

During a visit of US Secretary of State

Antony Blinken Antony John Blinken (born April 16, 1962) is an American lawyer and diplomat who served as the 71st United States secretary of state from 2021 to 2025. He previously served as Deputy National Security Advisor, deputy national security advisor ...

Manila Manila, officially the City of Manila, is the Capital of the Philippines, capital and second-most populous city of the Philippines after Quezon City, with a population of 1,846,513 people in 2020. Located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on ...

in March 2024, Lin told the US of having no rights to interfere between China and the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

' issues on the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan island, Taiwan and northwestern Philippines (mainly Luz ...

. In April 2024, he said on a scheduled news conference that the Philippines should "stop bringing external forces to safeguard its so-called security" on disputed waters. He further stated that such showcasing of external forces shall provoke confrontations and aggravate tensions. In May 2024, he expressed China's concerns over the deployment of a US-launched missile system as the US transports it to the northern region of the Philippines. In November 2024, Lin also claimed that the territorial dispute will not escalate if the Philippines no longer "infringes and provokes". This was his response to Filipino Defense Secretary

Gilbert Teodoro Gilberto Eduardo Gerardo Cojuangco Teodoro Jr. (born June 14, 1964), nicknamed Gibo (), is a Filipino lawyer, politician and business executive, who has served as the secretary of national defense under President Bongbong Marcos since 2023. He ...

's comments of China's "ramping up pressure" to the Philippines.

US tariffs

After the

Biden administration Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democr ...

announced new

tariffs A tariff or import tax is a duty imposed by a national government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports of goods and is paid by the importer. Exceptionally, an export tax may be levied on exports of goods or raw materials and is ...

and additional

import taxes A tariff or import tax is a duty imposed by a national government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports of goods and is paid by the importer. Exceptionally, an export tax may be levied on exports of goods or raw materials and is ...

on Chinese electric vehicles and goods, Lin made a statement saying, "Instead of ending those wrong practices, the US continues to politicize trade issues, abuse the so-called review process of Section 301 tariffs and plan tariff hikes".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lin, Jian 1977 births Living people 21st-century Chinese politicians Spokespersons for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China Beijing Foreign Studies University alumni Politicians from Wuhan Chinese Communist Party politicians from Hubei People's Republic of China politicians from Hubei Chinese expatriates in Denmark Chinese expatriates in Poland Political office-holders in Xinjiang