Beijing, Mar 20 (PTI) India’s newly appointed Ambassador to China Vikram Doraiswami has a Chinese name: Wei Jiameng, which denotes auspicious or praiseworthy ally.
Doraiswami, a 1992-batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, was appointed India’s new envoy to China on Thursday.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a media briefing on Friday that he noticed that the Indian envoy has chosen a Chinese name for himself: Wei Jiameng.
“China welcomes India’s new ambassador to China Wei Jiameng, and stands ready to provide every convenience for him to take up his post in China,” he said.
According to Chinese scholars, the loose translation of the name in Mandarin is Wei, a common Chinese surname that phonetically matches “Vi” in Vikram. Long ago, Wei was a powerful state during the Warring States period in Chinese history.
“Jia” means “auspicious or praiseworthy”, “Meng” means “alliance”. Broadly meaning auspicious/praiseworthy ally, the scholars told PTI.
All put together, it can be said as “one who forms an excellent alliance”, according to one Chinese scholar, which carries diplomatic significance in the present context of India-China relations.
Lin said China hopes that after assuming his duties, Doraiswami will make positive contributions to the sustained improvement and development of China-India ties.
Doraiswami’s appointment evoked considerable interest in the Chinese official media and the Chinese strategic community. A Mandarin speaker, he served both in Hong Kong and Beijing diplomatic missions in his early career as a diplomat. He served as Third Secretary in Hong Kong in his early career, where he earned an elective diploma in Chinese from the New Asia Yale-in-Asia Language School before moving to Beijing in September 1996 for a four-year tenure.
The Chinese official media has given a positive build-up to Doraiswami’s appointment.
Global Times, part of the People’s Daily publication group of the ruling Communist Party, featured his appointment on the front page with the headline: ‘India appoints seasoned “China hand” as next Ambassador’.
Doraiswami’s appointment comes amid efforts by the two sides to rebuild relations that came under severe strain following the over four-year military standoff in eastern Ladakh in April, 2020. PTI KJV ZH ZH
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