Qian Qichen

Qian Qichen
钱其琛
Qian in 1997
Vice Premier of China
In office 25 March 1993 – 6 March 2003
Premier	Li Peng Zhu Rongji
7th Minister of Foreign Affairs
In office 12 April 1988 – 18 March 1998
Premier	Li Peng
Preceded by	Wu Xueqian
Succeeded by	Tang Jiaxuan
Personal details
Born	(1928-01-05)5 January 1928 British Tianjin
Died	9 May 2017(2017-05-09) (aged 89) Beijing, People's Republic of China
Political party	Chinese Communist Party (joined in 1942)
Spouse	Zhou Hanqiong (周寒琼)
Children	2
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	錢其琛
Simplified Chinese	钱其琛
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Qián Qíchēn Wade–Giles Ch'ien Ch'i-ch'en

Qian Qichen (Chinese: 钱其琛; pinyin: Qián Qíchēn; 5 January 1928 – 9 May 2017) was a Chinese diplomat and politician. He served as Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Politburo member from 1992 to 2002, China's Foreign Minister from April 1988 to March 1998, and as Vice Premier from March 1993 to March 2003. Since then, no other diplomat-turned-politician has attained such a lofty status in China's political hierarchy.^[1] Qian played a critical role in shaping China's foreign policy during CCP general secretary Jiang Zemin's administration, and was a key player handling the return to Chinese sovereignty of Hong Kong and Macau. He was in charge of border negotiations with the Soviet Union in the 1980s, resulting in a successful settlement of the border dispute and the thawing of the relations between China and Russia. He was also instrumental in handling China's normalization of relations with the West in the difficult period after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.