President calls on envoys to forge deeper friendships

President Xi Jinping has called on Chinese ambassadors and other diplomats based overseas to forge broader and deeper friendships, urging them to be more loyal, more skilled and more disciplined in their efforts, and to champion the national cause.

He warmly greeted the Chinese officials, who were in Beijing to attend an annual work conference for envoys, at the Great Hall of the People on Friday morning, evoking a resounding round of applause.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, waved to the diplomats, exchanged pleasantries and posed for group photos.

The last time the president received the nation's envoys in a similar fashion was in 2019.