China assigned European and US affairs to Fu Ying and Cui Tiankai, two newly appointed vice-foreign ministers, but who will head the Six-Party Talks is still unknown.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on its website over the weekend that Cui Tiankai, vice-foreign minister and former ambassador to Japan, will be in charge of the North American and Oceanian Affairs, which was previously headed by He Yafei, who left the post in January.

Fu Ying, vice-foreign minister and former ambassador to the UK, will assume responsibility for European, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan affairs, and the Department of Translation and Interpretation.

Former Ambassador to Kazakhstan, Cheng Guoping, will be assistant to the foreign minister taking care of European-Central Asian Affairs and external security affairs.

It had been speculated that Cui would take over from Wu Dawei, one of the two outgoing vice-foreign ministers, and be head of China's delegation for the Six-Party Talks because of his experience in Asian affairs.

Even though he has been assigned North American and Oceanian Affairs, this might still be the case.

"The two posts are not conflicting. He could tend to the daily affairs and meanwhile take the temporary assignment for the Six-Party Talks," said Jin Canrong, an expert in international affairs at Renmin University of China.

Currently, Asian affairs are responsibility of Hu Zhengyue, whose official level - assistant to the minister - is thought not to be high enough to be the chief representative at the Six-Party Talks, of which China is president. The former head, Wu Dawei, was a vice minister, the Oriental Morning Post said.

The changing of officials shows that China has established a system of fixed tenures which is advancement in China's political system, said Jin, who also wanted to remind people not to infer that there are problems with any individuals.

Many ambassadors are also being reshuffled.

Ambassador to the Democratic Republic of Korea (DPRK) Liu Xiaoming will fill the vacancy left by Fu Ying in UK, as Fu Ying revealed at her leaving party address held last month.

"This shows China attaches great importance to the relations with UK, which can be seen from the official level of Liu Xiaoming," said Su Hao, an expert in East Asian affairs with the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing.

Fu left the post in UK after being promoted to vice minister, so China appointed Liu, who was already at the vice-minister level, according to Su.

"All Chinese ambassadors to the DPRK are at the level of vice-minister, which shows China's evaluation of the importance of China-DPRK relations. The same-level transfer shows the importance China attaches to China-UK relations, too," Su said.

Ambassador to the Republic of Korea (ROK) Cheng Yonghua attended the farewell party held by ROK foreign affairs officials last Saturday. Earlier Japanese media reports said Cheng, who previously was counselor and envoy to Japan, would take over Cui's post as ambassador to Japan.

Ambassador to the US Zhou Wenzhong will leave the post soon but no new name has been announced yet to be his successor.

Wang Yusheng, a veteran diplomat and world affairs expert, felt no surprise at such assignments for Fu and Cui. "They are both capable and competent for the posts"

"They are very excellent people," said Jin. "Among the millions of educated urban youths working in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution, they are of the few thousands that struggled for a promising future with their consistent efforts."

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