New heads of Taiwan affairs office, academy announced

Song Tao, a senior diplomat, has been appointed head of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, replacing Liu Jieyi, according to the office's website.

Born in 1955, Song holds a doctoral degree in economics. He was previously Chinese ambassador to Guyana, and ambassador to the Philippines.

In September 2011, he was named vice-minister of foreign affairs. In November 2013, he became deputy head of the Office of the Central Leading Group for Foreign Affairs.

He served as head of the International Department of the Central Committee of the CPC from November 2015 to June 2022. He visited the Democratic People's Republic of Korea as General Secretary Xi Jinping's special envoy to promote bilateral ties in 2017.

Since June, Song has served as deputy head of the committee on education, science, health and sports under the 13th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference National Committee, the country's top political advisory body.

Also on Wednesday, Gao Xiang, a historian and member of the 20th CPC Central Committee, was appointed president of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, according to the academy's website.

Gao was born in 1963 and graduated from Renmin University of China with a doctor's degree in history. He taught at the university before being assigned to the academy in November 1996.

In March 2016, he was appointed head of the Publicity Department of the CPC Fujian Provincial Committee. The next year, he was appointed deputy director of the Cyberspace Administration of China.

In November 2018, he was transferred back to the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as vice-president, and also served as president of the Chinese Academy of History from January 2019.