Shi Chunlai

Shi Chunlai
Ambassador of China to Mexico
In office
May 1987 – July 1990
Preceded byLi Chao
Succeeded byHuang Shikang
Ambassador of China to Australia
In office
September 1990 – November 1993
Preceded byZhang Zai
Succeeded byHua Jundao
Personal details
Born1931 (age 94–95)
Hubei

Shi Chunlai (simplified Chinese: 石春来; traditional Chinese: 石春來; born 1931) is a retired Chinese Ambassador. He served as China's ambassador to Mexico and Australia and in counselor roles at embassies in Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Biography

Shi Chunlai was born in 1931 in Huanghua, Hebei, China.[1][2] In 1949, he became a member of the Chinese Communist Party. Shi studied at Beijing Foreign Studies University but dropped out.[1] He also studied at Peking University.[3] Between March 1978 and 1983, he served at the Chinese embassy in Tanzania including as first secretary and counselor.[3][4] In April 1980, he took office as counselor and chargé d'affaires ad interim for the Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe.[1][3][5]

Shi served as the Chinese ambassador to Mexico between 1987 and 1990.[6] He became the Chinese ambassador to Australia in September 1990.[7] He submitted his diplomatic credentials to Bill Hayden, the Governor-General of Australia.[7] After finding out that Australia planned to improve relations with his country, Shi secured approval to allow Australian officials to travel to Tibet to look into the region's human rights conditions. In December 1990, he voiced strong disapproval of an Australian Senate bill about Tibet that condemned China's human rights record there. Despite this, he said Australian officials could still travel to Tibet.[8] Time magazine reported that the Australian Secret Intelligence Service, helped by 30 National Security Agency people, placed bugs in Shi's embassy during the Chinese embassy's relocation in 1990.[9] Shi ended his stint as the Chinese ambassador to Australia in 1993.[6] Starting in 1999, Shi became a senior advisor to the China Institute of International Studies.[10] Around that time, he also joined the East Asia Vision Group (EAVG).[10]

Shi frequently represented China at regional security talks in the 1990s.[11] According to the scholar William Tow, Shi is arguably China's "foremost authority on Sino-Australian ties".[12] Referring to the Council for Security Cooperation in the Asia Pacific (CSCAP), the political scientist Alastair Iain Johnston called Shi "a key figure in China's CSCAP committee".[13]

While serving as secretary general of CSCAP, Shi wrote about preventive diplomacy and presented seven principles about it.[14] He discussed actions China had taken in the Asia-Pacific, suggesting they were forms of preventive diplomacy. He cited how in its relations with Vietnam and India, China had reached provisional resolutions of border disputes. Among the other examples Shi cited were the 1996 Agreement on Confidence Building in the Military Field in the Border Area, signed by China, Russia, and three Central Asian countries, the Indonesia-led South China Sea meetings in which China participated, and annual China–Japan security talks.[15] Stating that China's preventive diplomacy actions were successful, Shi introduced the "new security concept" doctrine.[11][15]

Diplomatic roles

References

  1. 1 2 3 Liao, Gailong 廖盖隆; Luo, Zhufeng 罗竹风; Fan, Yuan 范源 (1990). 中囯人名大辞典 [Biographical Dictionary of Chinese People] (in Chinese). Vol. 2. Shanghai: Shanghai Lexicographical Publishing House. p. 274. Retrieved 2026-03-23 – via Google Books.
  2. 1 2 Economía nacional, Issues 115-125, Keal, 1990, Mexico, p. 67
  3. 1 2 3 ASEAN+3 Documents Series 1999–2004. Jakarta: ASEAN. 2005. p. 66. ISBN 978-979-3496-13-9. Retrieved 2026-03-23.
  4. ↑ 現代中囯人名辞典 [Dictionary of Modern Chinese Names] (in Chinese). Jiangnan: Jiangnan Academy 江南書院. 1982. p. 475. Retrieved 2026-03-23 – via Google Books.
  5. ↑ Zhongguo wai jiao (in Chinese). 1980. p. 70. Retrieved 2026-03-23 – via Google Books.
  6. 1 2 Ball, Desmond; Acharya, Amitav, eds. (1999). The Next Stage: Preventive Diplomacy and Security Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific Region. Canberra: Australian National University. p. xvii–xviii. ISBN 0-7315-2755-0. Retrieved 2026-03-23 – via Google Books.
  7. 1 2 "New Chinese Ambassador presents credentials to Governor". Xinhua News Agency. 1990-09-14. Factiva xnews00020011128dm9e00i27.
  8. ↑ Hou, Minyue (2007-11-28). "The Post-Tiananmen Human Rights Issue in China–Australia Relations". Asian Journal of Political Science. 15 (3): 352. doi:10.1080/02185370701731077.
  9. ↑ Faligot, Roger (2019). Chinese Spies: From Chairman Mao to Xi Jinping. Translated by Lehrer, Natasha. London: C. Hurst & Co. p. 321. ISBN 978-1-78738-096-7. Retrieved 2026-03-23 – via Google Books.
  10. 1 2 de Prado Yepes, Cesar (2003). "Is the World Ready for a Coherent ASEAN+3? : A multi-level analysis of epistemic policy actors' ideas" (PDF). Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies, Lund University. p. 19. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2026-03-23. Retrieved 2026-03-23.
  11. 1 2 Johnston, Alastair Iain (2008). Social States: China in International Institutions, 1980–2000. Princeton: Princeton University Press. pp. 172–173. ISBN 978-0-691-05042-3. Retrieved 2026-03-23 – via Internet Archive.
  12. ↑ Tow, William (2017). "Geopolitics, the 'National Interest' and the Sino-Australian Conundrum". In Thomas, Nicholas (ed.). Re-Orienting Australia-China Relations: 1972 to the Present. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. pp. 55, 57. ISBN 978-0-7546-3245-0. Retrieved 2026-03-23 – via Google Books.
  13. ↑ Johnston, Alastair Iain (2003). "The Social Effects of International Institutions". In Drezner, Daniel W. (ed.). Locating the Proper Authorities: The Interaction of Domestic and International Institutions. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-02727-9. Retrieved 2026-03-23 – via Google Books.
  14. ↑ Yuzawa, Takeshi (September–October 2006). "The Evolution of Preventive Diplomacy in the ASEAN Regional Forum: Problems and Prospects". Asian Survey. Vol. 46, no. 5. pp. 790–791. doi:10.1525/as.2006.46.5.785. JSTOR 10.1525/as.2006.46.5.785.
  15. 1 2 Capie, David; Evans, Paul (2007) [2002]. The Asia-Pacific Security Lexicon (2 ed.). Singapore: ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. p. 202–203. ISBN 978-981-230-425-4. Retrieved 2026-03-23 – via Google Books.
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