{"id":803016,"date":"2026-07-16T02:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T02:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/803016\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T02:14:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T02:14:11","slug":"chinese-ambassador-to-australia-xiao-qian-to-depart-after-more-than-four-years-in-role","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/803016\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian to depart after more than four years in role"},"content":{"rendered":"

Xiao Qian is set to leave Canberra after more than four years as China\u2019s Ambassador to Australia.<\/p>\n

Xiao, who assumed the role in January 2022, will be leaving the post, The Australian<\/a> reports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A farewell celebration for the diplomat will be held in Canberra in less than a fortnight.<\/p>\n

He was China\u2019s fifteenth Ambassador to Australia, having taken over the position following former ambassador Cheng Jingye\u2019s departure in 2021.<\/p>\n

In a statement upon his arrival in Canberra in 2022, Xiao said assuming the ambassador role was a \u201cgreat honour\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe development of the China-Australia relations is also at a critical juncture, facing many\u2002difficulties and challenges as well as enormous opportunities and potentials,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Chinese side always believes\u2002that a sound and steady China-Australia relationship\u2002serves the fundamental interests of the two countries and the two peoples, and contributes to the prosperity and stability of the Asia-Pacific region.\u201d<\/p>\n

News of his expected departure comes just weeks after he was accused of publishing a \u201cclumsy piece of propaganda\u201d<\/a> in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers.<\/p>\n

In an opinion piece titled \u201cWhen will the China-threat paranoia stop?\u201d, Xiao claimed that ASIO and other Western intelligence agencies, as well as the Australian media, have \u201crepeatedly fabricated\u201d concerns about the security threat posed by China.<\/p>\n

Xiao, who attended ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess\u2019 speech in June, said the spy boss used his recent annual threat assessment to \u201ccast aspersions on China\u201d, arguing no perpetrator or individual had been held accountable.<\/p>\n

However, a video which aired as part of Mr Burgess\u2019 address contained footage of Chinese nationals accused of covertly gathering information on a Canberra Buddhist group to send back to China.<\/p>\n

They appeared before the ACT Magistrates Court in February.<\/p>\n

Xiao\u2019s piece said such allegations of China spying had \u201cdeeply wounded the feelings\u201d of the Chinese people.<\/p>\n

Speaking to SkyNews.com.au, the Head of China Investigations and Analysis at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), Bethany Allen, said Xiao\u2019s accusation that ASIO was lying was \u201cnot a credible claim\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is certainly fair to call Xiao\u2019s piece an example of diplomatic propaganda, and a clumsy piece of propaganda at that,\u201d Ms Allen said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Xiao Qian is set to leave Canberra after more than four years as China\u2019s Ambassador to Australia. Xiao,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[143089,64,63,512,376255,44,376254],"class_list":["post-803016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-ambassador","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-china","tag-diplomat","tag-news","tag-xiao-qian"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}