Zhang Yesui, who has served as executive vice-foreign minister since 2012, appeared before the media on Sunday as the spokesman for the first session of the 13th National People's Congress.

He attracted the attention of the assembled domestic and foreign media representatives as he walked into the venue for the first news conference of the annual NPC session at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

The veteran diplomat took the post from Fu Ying, who was also vice-foreign minister before serving as spokeswoman for all five annual sessions of the 12th NPC from 2013 to 2017.

Born in 1953 in Tianmen, Hubei province, Zhang graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University.

He studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1975 and 1976, a college that also helped nurture many other senior Chinese diplomats, including State Councilor Yang Jiechi.

Zhang then served at the Chinese embassy in the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1982.

His talent for moderating and negotiating in multinational diplomatic affairs was developed as he served at the Foreign Ministry's Department of International Organizations and Conferences. He was also China's ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations in 2008 and 2009.

During his tenure as director-general of the ministry's Protocol Department from 1996 to 2000, he led preparations for a host of major overseas visits by then Chinese leaders as well as ceremonies greeting visiting foreign heads of state.

Zhang's name became known to more people when he started serving as Chinese ambassador to the United States in 2009, succeeding Zhou Wenzhong.

Zhou told Chinese media that Zhang is a "very capable diplomat".

He took up his post as executive vice-foreign minister in 2012, and has been in charge of the ministry's executive work and affairs related to Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan.

The past year has seen Zhang work on a wide range of topics, as he visited countries such as France and chaired key meetings including the high-level strategic dialogue of foreign affairs authorities between China and South Korea.

He was also an alternate member of the 18th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.

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