BEIJING - A round of personnel adjustments is under way at the Foreign Ministry with another senior official being promoted to the post of Assistant Foreign Minister, bringing the number of top leaders of the ministry to 14.

Zhang Ming, former director-general of the ministry's General Office, was appointed on Tuesday as assistant foreign minister, the third-highest ranking post after the minister and vice-minister.

It followed the appointment of Le Yucheng and Ma Zhaoxu as assistant foreign ministers. Le, former director-general of the Policy Planning Department, was promoted in late November 2011, while Ma, a spokesman for the ministry and former director-general of Information Department, was promoted in late December.

Qu Xing, president of the China Institute of International Studies, said the increasing number of officials at the level of assistant foreign minister was an interim measure, as there would be a further reshuffle of officials at this level, so it does not reflect a trend.

Besides, China's Ambassador to the Philippines Liu Jianchao and Ambassador to Indonesia Zhang Qiyue recently resigned from their posts, indicating that they would be promoted to other positions.

Both Liu and Zhang had worked in the Information Department and were spokespersons for the Foreign Ministry.

"The spokespersons were selected due to their ability to react and good performance in previous work," said Professor Jin Canrong from the School of International Studies at Renmin University of China.

Other officials taking up new posts include Qin Gang, who took over from his predecessor Ma Zhaoxu as the director-general of the Information Department.

Ambassador to Nepal Qiu Guohong was named director-general of the External Security Department, while former deputy director-general of International Organizations and Conferences Department Pang Sen was named director-general of the Arms Control Department.

China Daily