India's New Envoy To China Pradeep Kumar Rawat Takes Charge

Pradeep Kumar Rawat was previously India's ambassador to the Netherlands

Photo: Twitter/@EOIBeijing

Beijing: India's new ambassador to China Pradeep Kumar Rawat assumed charge on Monday. Rawat arrived in China on March 4 and underwent mandatory quarantine as per China's COVID-19 protocols.

"HE Shri. Pradeep Kumar Rawat, Ambassador of India to the People's Republic of China assumed charge @EOIBeijing today”, the Indian Embassy here tweeted.

H.E. Shri. Pradeep Kumar Rawat, Ambassador of India to the People’s Republic of China assumed charge @EOIBeijing today. pic.twitter.com/8LA1qGsOgt

— India in China (@EOIBeijing) March 14, 2022

An Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer of the 1990 batch, Rawat was previously India's ambassador to the Netherlands.

Ambassador Rawat joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1990. He opted to learn Mandarin Chinese as his foreign language and served in Hong Kong and Beijing between 1992 and 1997. He returned to Delhi in 1997 and served in East Asia Division for over 3 years. He then served as First Secretary in Indian Mission in Mauritius.

Rawat served as Ambassador of India to Indonesia and Timor-Leste from September 2017-December 2020 and Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Permanent Representative of India to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) from January 2021-February 2022.

Rawat's appointment comes in the midst of the lingering eastern Ladakh border standoff.

He speaks fluent Mandarin.