Wu Jianmin

{{Short description|Chinese diplomat}}

{{for-multi|the Chinese dissident|Wu Jianmin (democracy activist)|the American banker|Dominic Ng}}

{{family name hatnote|Wu|lang=Chinese}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|name=Wu Jianmin

|image= Wu Jianmin - Annual Meeting of the New Champions Tianjin 2008.jpg

|birth_date= {{birth date|1939|3|30}}

|birth_place= Chongqing, China

|death_date= {{death date and age |2016|6|18|1939|3|30}}

|death_place= Wuhan, China

|spouse= Shi Yanhua

|relatives=

}}

Wu Jianmin ({{lang-zh|吴建民}}; March 30, 1939 – June 18, 2016) was a prominent Chinese diplomat. He worked as the spokesman of Chinese Foreign Ministry, ambassador of China to the Netherlands, Permanent Mission to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Other International Organizations in Switzerland, and France, and the president of the Bureau International des Expositions.

Wu was born in Chongqing, where his parents, natives of Nanjing, found refuge amidst the Second Sino-Japanese War. When Wu was seven years old, his family returned to Nanjing. He attended Nanjing No.2 Middle School and went on to the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute (now Beijing Foreign Studies University) where he graduated in 1959, majoring in French.{{cite news|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/politics/2016-06/18/c_1119067985.htm|title=吴建民大使遇车祸去世|agency=Xinhua|accessdate=2016-06-18|date=2016-06-18}} Upon graduation, he was chosen to work for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, where he served as an interpreter for Chinese leaders including Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Chen Yi.{{cite news|url=http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1977086/senior-chinese-diplomat-and-critic-mainland-media-wu|title=Senior Chinese diplomat and critic of mainland media Wu Jianmin, 77, dies in car accident|date=18 June 2016|newspaper=South China Morning Post|author=Liu Zhen|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160626015732/http://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/1977086/senior-chinese-diplomat-and-critic-mainland-media-wu|archivedate=26 June 2016}}{{cite news|url=http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/china-taiwan-relations/2016/06/19/469758/Wu-Jianmin.htm|title=Wu Jianmin, former Taiwan-friendly Chinese diplomat, dies in car crash|date=19 June 2016|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160626015957/http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/china-taiwan-relations/2016/06/19/469758/Wu-Jianmin.htm|archivedate=26 June 2016|newspaper=The China Post}}

Wu had a distinguished career as a diplomat. He worked at the Chinese mission to the United Nations in New York in the 1970s. He became the spokesman of Chinese Foreign Ministry in 1991. From 1994 to 2003, he worked as ambassador of China to the Netherlands, the UN organizations in Geneva and France. Afterwards, he worked as the president of China Foreign Affairs University.{{Cite book |last=Loh |first=Dylan M.H. |title=China's Rising Foreign Ministry: Practices and Representations of Assertive Diplomacy |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2024 |isbn=9781503638204}}{{Rp|page=82}} In 2003 he was elected as the president of the Bureau International des Expositions, and he was the first Chinese and Asian as well as the first person from a developing country to serve in the post, in which he served two two-year terms. Wu was a member of the Berggruen Institute's 21st Century Council.{{Cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/wu-jianmin|title=Wu Jianmin|website=HuffPost}}

On June 18, 2016, Wu died when the car in which he was traveling struck a median while exiting the Donghu Lake Tunnel in Wuhan, China. Wu was on his way to lecture at Wuhan University. He was 77.{{cite news|url=http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2016-06/18/content_25756180.htm|title=Prominent former diplomat Wu Jianmin dies in car accident|work=China Daily|accessdate=2016-06-18|date=2016-06-18|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160618211314/http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2016-06/18/content_25756180.htm|archivedate=18 June 2016}}{{cite news|url=http://tv.cctv.com/2016/06/18/VIDErSPzNlUFJAMrpd5Es8jM160618.shtml|title=[新闻直播间]前驻法大使吴建民遇车祸辞世|agency=CCTV|publisher=CNTV|accessdate=2016-06-18|date=2016-06-18}}

His wife, Shi Yanhua, was also a professional diplomat who served as the English interpreter for Deng Xiaoping and was Chinese Ambassador to Luxembourg.

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