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The evolution of the consular network of the People’s Republic of China (1949-2024)

Passersby in front of a Chinese wholesale store, Yokohama, Japan, 1970

(André Travert collection, French Diplomatic Archives)

The aim of this post is to provide a preliminary overview of the consulates established by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) abroad since its foundation in October 1949. This 75-year period is divided into four parts, corresponding to different phases in the evolution of the network. Our presentation is supplemented with chronological tables and figures, summarising the development trends and all the consulates and consulates general established in various foreign cities. If a consular post has closed, either temporarily or permanently, at the time of writing in January 2025, this is systematically indicated in the comments column, with the closure year noted.

  1. ‘Ephemeral consulates’ in the early days of the People’s Republic (1949-1965)

During the early years of the new regime, the consular service of the People’s Republic of China was marked by considerable instability. The frequent creation and abolition of posts was evidence of major tensions within the decision-making spheres and/or in diplomatic relations between Beijing and the surrounding world.

The initial impetus between 1949 and 1955 led to the creation of 12 consulates and consulates general in the space of seven years. These posts were mainly located in Asian countries—with the sole exception of the Consulate General in Geneva, which was set up when Prime Minister Zhou Enlai (1898-1976) attended the Conference held in Geneva in 1954—and included Indonesia (4 posts), then under the pro-Communist regime of Soekarno, the Asian part of the Soviet Union (3 posts) and India (2 posts), which was pursuing a Sinophile policy at the time. The other two consulates were in Haiphong, North Vietnam, and Lashio, Burma[1].

These early initiatives were almost all short-lived. The three consulates general in the Soviet Union, established in 1950, operated for less than three years, and it was not until 1986 that a new Chinese consulate was created on the territory of this socialist power, this time in Leningrad[2]. The Consulate General in Haiphong, meanwhile, existed for four years[3]. The two consulates general in India and the three consulates in Indonesia closed in 1962 and 1965 respectively, following the Sino-Indian war in the Himalayas in the case of the former, and the massacres that took place during the transition of power from Soekarno to Soeharto, targeting the Chinese community and communists, among others, in the case of the latter. The post in Jakarta, the only consulate general in a capital city in the history of the PRC, ceased operations at the same time as the Chinese embassy in Indonesia when the two countries broke off diplomatically in 1967.

From 1955 onwards, the establishment of consulates became rarer and was limited solely to Eastern Bloc and socialist-leaning countries. There were only two new posts between 1955 and 1965: in Gdansk (Poland), created in 1958, and in Phongsaly (Laos) in 1961, the year in which diplomatic relations were established between China and Laos. During the same period, two other consulates general were opened in Damascus and Zanzibar. However, these were the result of the transformation of existing embassies, reflecting changes in the host countries rather than decisions taken by Beijing[4]. The year 1955 saw the start of a restrictive approach to consular protection. Rather than contributing to the development of its consular network among the Chinese diasporas, the state explicitly encouraged its nationals to naturalise in their host country[5]. This policy persisted throughout the waves of anti-Chinese persecution that occurred in India, Indonesia, and the countries of Indochina in the 1960s and 1970s, with the government’s role limited to receiving Chinese fleeing their country of residence in search of refuge in their homeland[6].

Consular posts continued to close frequently throughout the period 1949-1965. In fact, 1965 can be seen as a turning point, insofar as consulates established prior to this date rarely continued to exist afterwards. Of the 16 consulates that appeared in those 16 years, only four ‘survived’: Geneva, Gdansk (which was temporarily closed for three years between 1962 and 1965), Phongsaly (closed in 1976) and Zanzibar. As a result, the number of PRC consulates remained low, never exceeding 11, the figure reached in 1958.

Dates of creation and closure

City

Status

Sovereign State

Comments

1950-1951

Vladivostok

Consulate General

USSR

Restored in 2016

1950-1952

Chita

Consulate General

USSR

 

1950-1953

Almaty

Consulate General

USSR

Restored in 2008

1950-1962

Kolkata

Consulate General

India

Restored in 2007

1951-1967

Jakarta

Consulate General

Indonesia

 

1951-1965

Medan

Consulate

Indonesia

Restored in 2011

1951-1965

Banjarmasin

Consulate

Indonesia

 

1951-1965

Makassar

Consulate

Indonesia

 

1953-1962

Mumbai

Consulate General

India

Restored in 1992

1954-présent

Geneva/Zurich

Consulate General

Switzerland

Transferred from Geneva to Zurich in 1988

1955-1959

Haiphong

Consulate

North Vietnam

 

1955-1964

Lashio/Mandalay

Consulate General

Burma

Transferred from Lashio to Mandalay in 1962

1958-1961

Damascus

Consulate General

United Arab Republic

Embassy in Syria before 1958 and after 1961

1958-2024

Gdańsk

Consulate General

Poland

Closed between 1962 and 1965, then in 2024

1961-1976

Phongsaly

Consulate General

Laos

 

1964-présent

Zanzibar

Consulate

Tanzania

Formerly embassy in Zanzibar; upgraded to consulate general in 1999

Table 1. List of consulates established by the PRC between 1949 and 1965

 

  1. Years of stagnation amid diplomatic competition between Beijing and Taipei (1966–1983)

The Cultural Revolution that began in 1966 was certainly a decade of great upheaval in contemporary history, leading, for example, to the closure of many foreign consulates in China[7]. However, the same date coincides with the beginning of half a century of relative stability for the management of Chinese consulates abroad. After the closure of the Consulate General in Jakarta mentioned earlier, there was only one case of a post being abolished (in Phongsaly, in 1976) in the period from 1967 to 2014.

This stability was accompanied by relative stagnation. With the exception of the two consulates general created during the first weeks of the Cultural Revolution, in Pakistan and Egypt, Beijing’s consular network recorded zero growth from September 1966 to November 1974. The number of consulates changed very little, fluctuating between 5 and 7 over the same period. This inertia continued throughout the 1970s and well beyond the Cultural Revolution. From 1970 onwards, Beijing normalised relations with key Western bloc countries such as Canada, the United States, and Japan, and in 1971, it replaced the Republic of China (ROC, Taipei) at the United Nations. Yet, despite these significant diplomatic advances, the PRC’s consular network grew only modestly between 1974 and 1983. Seven new consulates general were created in Canada (1 post in 1974), Japan (2 posts from 1976), the United States (3 posts from 1979) and Australia (1 post in 1980), bringing the number of consulates from 6 in 1973 to 12 by the end of 1983.

These advances were made in the context of diplomatic competition between Beijing and Taipei, from which the PRC emerged victorious. Until 1972, the ROC played a major role in protecting the Chinese abroad, maintaining between 20 and 25 consulates for the period 1952-1972, compared with 5 to 11 on the PRC side. However, for ideological reasons, the establishment of a Chinese consulate in a foreign country, whether by Beijing or Taipei, was systematically conditional on the non-recognition of the rival regime by the government of the host country[8]. As a result, the consular services of the two sides hardly ever crossed paths. The following table summarises all the countries where one of the two established at least one consulate between 1952 and 1970.

Sovereign State

PRC

ROC

Thailand

 

Japan

 

Laos (in civil war)

India

 

Indonesia

 

Malaysia

 

Philippines

 

Burma

 

North Vietnam

 

South Vietnam

 

Pakistan

 

United Arab Republic

 

Saudi Arabia

 

United States

 

Canada

 

Egypt

 

South Africa

 

Tanzania

 

USSR

 

Switzerland

 

Timor (Portugal)

 

Italy

 

Tahiti (France)

 

Australia

 

Brazil

 

Mexico

 

Table 2. Countries where the PRC or the ROC established a consulate between 1952 and 1970[9]

As a result, the modest expansion of the PRC’s consular network from 1974 initially took the form of a transfer of authority between consuls accredited by one or the other of the two regimes. Furthermore, the PRC’s success in winning over these diasporas cannot be explained solely by Taipei’s decline on the international stage. The Chinese diasporas themselves are also believed to have played a major role in this shift of power. The case of Chinese consulates in Japan, for instance, highlights the significance of rivalries within the Chinese community, which was divided—long before the arrival of a consul appointed by Beijing—between a pro-ROC faction and a pro-PRC faction[10].

As a victim of its own Sino-centric ideology, Taipei was forced to close all its consulates in a country if the government of that country recognised the People’s Republic. The ROC’s consular network was thus gradually reduced to an insignificant size during the 1970s and 1980s, in parallel with Beijing’s emergence on the international stage. On 1 August 1979, the People’s Republic of China became a State Party to the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, marking a new stage in its integration into the ‘concert of nations’. However, it was not until 1984 that the PRC’s consulates began to flourish once again.

  1. The years of exponential growth (1984-2014)

The thirty years from 1984 to 2014 saw an extraordinary expansion of Chinese consulates abroad. The number of posts increased eightfold, from 12 at the beginning of 1984 to 92 at the end of 2014, an annual increase of 2.7. The years 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987 deserve particular attention, because in less than three years, 17 new consulates general were set up in 14 countries, covering all the continents of the world. This exceptional growth reflected, at least initially, the policy of openness advocated by Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997), vice-premier and de facto supreme leader of the PRC. In February 1984, three months before the arrival of the first Chinese consul in Hamburg, Deng had proposed increasing the number of Chinese cities open to foreign trade from 4 to 18[11]. From May onwards, China, which between 1979 and 1981 had concluded a series of bilateral agreements concerning the establishment of reciprocal consulates, suddenly began to assert its right to set up consulates in corresponding foreign cities. At the same time, a series of new agreements of this kind were signed, paving the way for a more ambitious consular policy.

The geographical distribution of the 81 consulates created between 1984 and 2014 shows a preference for Asian and European cities. There are 33 for Asia, 23 for Europe, 7 for Africa, 7 for South America, 6 for North America and 5 for Oceania. At the end of 2014, China had three or more consulates in 12 countries, reflecting the dynamism in these bilateral exchanges: Japan (6), United States (5), Australia (4), Canada (4), France (4), Russia (4), Brazil (3), South Korea (3), Germany (3), Indonesia (3), United Kingdom (3) and Thailand (3).

However, it is important not to lose sight of the fact that there was a hiatus between the end of 1998 and the summer of 2003, corresponding chronologically to Zhu Rongji’s (1928- ) term of office as Prime Minister. No new consulates were opened in the Chinese consular service during these five years. This new phase of stagnation is probably linked to the ambitious administrative reform carried out by Zhu, aimed, among other things, at reducing the staff of the State Council (the government) by 47%[12].

  1. The last ten years: slowdown and reorganisation (2015-2024)

2015 marks a slowdown in the creation of new consulates. From 2017 onwards, at most one post was established per year. No new consulates were opened in 2019, 2020 and 2021. The number of posts peaked in 2016 at 96, before declining – for the first time since 1966 – to 91 by the end of 2024.

Figure 1. Number of Chinese consulates abroad

The decrease in the number of consulates is mainly due to the closure of certain posts. This measure may seem surprising given the practices of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in recent decades. The closure of the Toamasina consulate in 2015 occurred 39 years after the last similar case, that of Phongsaly in 1976[13]. The consulate in Toamasina, established in May 1996, was closed on a ‘temporary’ basis, according to information on the ministry’s official website. As of the time of writing, this consulate remains inactive. Until the end of 2024, ten other posts have ceased operations, also on a ‘provisional’ basis, including one consulate in Cameroon and nine consulates general in Romania, Colombia, Turkey, Ukraine, Poland, Equatorial Guinea, Kyrgyzstan, Chile and the United States. These consulates also remain inactive.

Figure 2. Number of consulates created and closed per year

These measures appear to be part of a reorganization process. Of the 11 closures, only two were officially in response to an external requirement: the consulate general in Houston was closed in 2020 at Washington’s request; the consulate general in Odessa was evacuated in 2022 because of the Ukrainian war. The closure of the 11 posts, moreover, is accompanied by the creation of 10 posts over the same period, mainly in cities along the New Silk Roads, whether by land or sea: Kota Kinabalu, Penang, Kazan, Vladivostok, Da Nang, Davao[14], Bandar Abbas, Basra and Aktobe.

In January 2025, China has a total of 91 active consulates and consulates general, including 39 in Asia, 25 in Europe, 9 in North America, 7 in Oceania, 6 in Africa and 5 in South America. Apart from these, 11 consular posts remain inactive, officially closed on a temporary basis. The countries where China maintains the most consulates are Japan (6), Russia (6), Australia (5), the United States (5), France (5) and Canada (4).

Date of Establishment (Month and Year)

City

Status

Sovereign State

Comments

 

08/1966

Karachi

Consulate General

Pakistan

 

08/1966

Said/Alexandria

Consulate General

Egypt

Transferred from Said to Alexandria in 1968

11/1974

Vancouver

Consulate General

Canada

 

03/1976

Osaka

Consulate General

Japan

 

11/1979

Houston

Consulate General

United States

Closed in 2020

12/1979

San Francisco

Consulate General

United States

 

03/1980

Sydney

Consulate General

Australia

 

09/1980

Sapporo

Consulate General

Japan

 

12/1981

New York

Consulate General

United States

 

05/1984

Hamburg

Consulate General

FRG/Germany

 

09/1984

Guayaquil

Consulate General

Ecuador

 

12/1984

Toronto

Consulate General

Canada

 

05/1985

Fukuoka

Consulate General

Japan

 

05/1985

Nagasaki

Consulate General

Japan

 

06/1985

Milan

Consulate General

Italy

 

07/1985

Chicago

Consulate General

United States

 

07/1985

Istanbul

Consulate General

Turkey

 

08/1985

Tijuana

Consulate General

Mexico

 

11/1985

São Paulo

Consulate General

Brazil

 

12/1985

Constanța

Consulate General

Romania

Closed in 2017

12/1985

Marseille

Consulate General

France

 

06/1986

Manchester

Consulate General

United Kingdom

 

09/1986

Melbourne

Consulate General

Australia

 

12/1986

Leningrad

Consulate General

USSR/Russia

 

01/1987

Chongjin

Consulate General

North Korea

 

03/1987

Barcelona

Consulate General

Spain

 

03/1988

Los Angeles

Consulate General

United States

 

02/1989

Dubai

Consulate General

United Arab Emirates

 

06/1990

Aden

Consulate General

Yemen

Former embassy in South Yemen

06/1990

Barranquilla

Consulate General

Colombia

Closed in 2017

01/1991

Chiang Mai

Consulate General

Thailand

 

05/1992

Santa Cruz de la Sierra

Consulate General

Bolivia

 

06/1992

Auckland

Consulate General

New Zealand

 

06/1992

Rio de Janeiro

Consulate General

Brazil

 

09/1992

Khabarovsk

Consulate General

Russia

 

10/1992

Bratislava

Consulate General

Czechoslovakia

Transformed into an embassy in 1993

12/1992

Mumbai

Consulate General

India

 

04/1993

Jeddah

Consulate General

Saudi Arabia

 

05/1993

Ho Chi Minh

Consulate General

Vietnam

 

09/1993

Busan

Consulate General

South Korea

 

12/1993

Douala

Consulate

Cameroon

Closed in 2017

05/1994

Perth

Consulate General

Australia

 

07/1994

Mandalay

Consulate General

Myanmar

 

07/1994

Songkhla

Consulate General

Thailand

 

08/1994

Kuching

Consulate General

Malaysia

 

10/1995

Cebu

Consulate General

Philippines

 

05/1996

Toamasina

Consulate

Madagascar

Closed in 2015

04/1997

Gothenburg

Consulate General

Sweden

 

06/1997

Munich

Consulate General

Germany

 

11/1997

Edinburgh

Consulate General

United Kingdom

 

12/1997

Iquique

Consulate General

Chile

Closed in 2024

04/1998

Strasbourg

Consulate General

France

 

06/1998

Florence

Consulate General

Italy

 

10/1998

Calgary

Consulate General

Canada

 

11/1998

Cape Town

Consulate General

South Africa

 

11/1998

Johannesburg

Consulate General

South Africa

 

11/1998

Durban

Consulate General

South Africa

 

08/2003

Lagos

Consulate General

Nigeria

 

10/2004

Yekaterinburg

Consulate General

Russia

 

11/2004

Frankfurt

Consulate General

Germany

 

08/2005

Nagoya

Consulate

Japan

Established as a Consulate General in 2007

04/2006

Odessa

Consulate General

Ukraine

Closed in 2022

05/2006

Surabaya

Consulate General

Indonesia

 

10/2006

Papeete

Consulate

French Polynesia

 

01/2007

Laoag

Consulate

Philippines

 

02/2007

Brisbane

Consulate General

Australia

 

07/2007

Lyon

Consulate General

France

 

09/2007

Kolkata

Consulate General

India

 

10/2007

Irkutsk

Consulate General

Russia

 

12/2008

Almaty

Consulate General

Kazakhstan

 

05/2009

Gwangju

Consulate General

South Korea

 

08/2009

Saint-Denis (Réunion)

Consulate General

France

 

06/2010

Niigata

Consulate General

Japan

 

04/2011

Montreal

Consulate General

Canada

 

05/2011

Christchurch

Consulate General

New Zealand

 

09/2011

Medan

Consulate General

Indonesia

 

07/2012

Jeju

Consulate General

South Korea

 

07/2012

Osh

Consulate General

Kyrgyzstan

Closed in 2019

08/2012

Khon Kaen

Consulate General

Thailand

 

09/2013

Zamyn-Üüd

Consulate General

Mongolia

 

10/2013

Luang Prabang

Consulate General

Laos

 

10/2013

Willemstad

Consulate General

Curaçao (Netherlands)

 

10/2013

Bata

Consulate General

Equatorial Guinea

Closed in 2024

04/2014

Izmir

Consulate General

Turkey

Closed in 2019

05/2014

Recife

Consulate General

Brazil

 

07/2014

Denpasar

Consulate General

Indonesia

 

10/2014

Erbil

Consulate General

Iraq

 

10/2014

Düsseldorf

Consulate General

Germany

 

12/2014

Lahore

Consulate General

Pakistan

 

12/2014

Belfast

Consulate General

United Kingdom

 

01/2015

Kota Kinabalu

Consulate General

Malaysia

 

07/2015

Penang

Consulate General

Malaysia

 

09/2015

Adelaide

Consulate General

Australia

 

09/2016

Kazan

Consulate General

Russia

 

12/2016

Vladivostok

Consulate General

Russia

 

03/2017

Da Nang

Consulate General

Vietnam

 

03/2018

Davao

Consulate General

Philippines

 

12/2022

Bandar Abbas

Consulate General

Iran

 

10/2023

Basra

Consulate General

Iraq

 

07/2024

Aktobe

Consulate General

Kazakhstan

 

Table 3. Chronological list of consulates established by the PRC between 1966 and 2024

Conclusion

The PRC’s consular network evolved differently over time. It went through a turbulent period in the 1950s and 60s, characterised by frequent openings and closures of consular posts, before entering a phase of stagnation around 1966. Beijing’s consulates saw initial growth in the 1970s, when they replaced Taipei’s consulates among certain Chinese diasporas. However, they only began to experience rapid growth starting in 1984, with accelerated expansion over the following three decades, except for the period between 1998 and 2003. The year 2015 marked a major turning point, ushering in a new phase of slowdown, characterised by the closure of consulates and the creation of a limited number of new posts, primarily along the New Silk Roads.

[1] Data on the development of China’s consular posts comes mainly from the following sources: Xin Zhongguo lingshi shijian 中国领事实践 (The Consular Practices of New China), Beijing, Shijie zhishi chubanshe, 1991; Qiu, Riqing and Wang, Yujie (eds.), Lingshi fa lun 领事法论 (Of consular law), Shanghai, Shanghai shehui kexueyuan chubanshe, 1996; Zhongguo lingshi gongzuo 中国领事工作 (China’s consular affairs), Beijing, Shijie zhishi chubanshe, 2014. vol. 1; official websites of PRC consulates abroad; official website of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ‘Overseas Services’ section:

< https://www.mfa.gov.cn/web/zwjg_674741/zwsg_674743/yz_674745/ >, consulted on 25 January 2025.

[2] The official account attributes the closure of the Chinese consulate in Chita (1952) to a lack of activity.  The consulate general in Almaty, meanwhile, was closed following an inspection visit by Zhang Wentian (1900-1976), Chinese ambassador to Moscow, who set out to reduce the number of Chinese consular institutions in the Soviet Union in order to save funds, cf. Zhang, Guangyou, et al. (ed.), Xin Zhongguo waijiao wushi nian 新中国外交五十年 (The Fifty Years of Chinese Diplomacy), Beijing, Beijing chubanshe, 1999, vol. 2, p. 809; Zhang, Peisen (ed.), Zhang Wentian nianpu 张闻天年谱 (Biographical chronology of Zhang Wentian), Beijing, Zhonggong dangshi chubanshe, 2000, vol. 2, p. 928.

[3] In 1959, the Chinese consulate in Haiphong was transformed into a ‘liaison office of the Chinese Ministry of Transport to the DRV for maritime transport affairs’, cf. Peng, Deqing (ed.), Zhongguo hanghai shi: xiandai hanghaishi 中国航海史:现代航海史 (The history of shipping in China: the contemporary era), Beijing, Renmin jiaotong chubanshe, 1989, p. 123. It is significant to note that, according to the municipal records compiled by the city of Guangzhou, this same liaison office was actually the result of the transformation of a representative office of the Guangzhou Maritime Transport Administration in Haiphong, created in August 1957. These elements suggest a strong involvement of the local authorities of Canton in China’s consular service in Haiphong. Cf. Guangzhou shizhi 广州市志 (The Annals of the City of Guangzhou), Guangzhou, Guangzhou chubanshe, 2000, p. 162.

[4] Syria and Egypt merged for three years from 1958 to 1961; the state of Zanzibar joined with Tanganyika in 1964 to form Tanzania.

[5] Li, Hai-Bo, ‘On National Interests First of China’s Consular Protection Since the Foundation of PRC (1949-1977)’, in Xueshu tansuo, 2017 (3), p. 23-27.

[6] Ibid.

[7] In 1966, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden, North Korea and West Germany closed their consulates in the PRC, citing budgetary constraints. By 1969, there were only five foreign consulates left in China.

[8] See Gao, Lang, Zhonghua minguo waijiao guanxi zhi yanbian 中華民國外交關係之演變, 1950-1972 (The Evolution of the Diplomatic Relations of the Republic of China), Taipei, Wunan Publishing Company, 1993, p. 145.

[9] Ibid., p. 141-146.

[10] Wang, En-Mei, ‘The Republic of China’s Changes of Policy towards Overseas Community Affairs in Japan before and after Its Breaking off Diplomatic Relations with Japan in 1972’, in Guoshiguan guankan, vol. 48, 2016, p. 175-216.

[11] Guiheux, Gilles,  La République populaire de Chine. Histoire générale de la Chine (1949 à nos jours), Paris, Belles lettres, 2018, p. 110.

[12] Chan, Che-Po and Drewry, Gavin,  ‘The 1998 State Council Organizational Streamlining: Personnel reduction and change of government function’, Journal of Contemporary China, 2001, vol.10, n. 29, p. 553-572; Wong, Christine, ‘Rebuilding Government for the 21st Century: Can China Incrementally Reform the Public Sector?’, The China Quarterly, 2009, No. 200, p. 929-952.

[13] In the meantime, only the consulate in Bratislava was abolished in 1993, but this was due to its transformation into an embassy following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia.

[14] The Philippines withdrew from China’s New Silk Roads project in 2023.


OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Zhang Gong (3 avril 2025). The evolution of the consular network of the People’s Republic of China (1949-2024). Consoli. Consulté le 14 mai 2025 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/13opq


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