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Li Zhaoxing (; born 20 October 1940) is a Chinese diplomat and politician who served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of China from 2003 to 2007. He previously served as Ambassador of China to the United States from 1998 to 2001, Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations from 1993 to 1995, and deputy director and director of information department at Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1985 to 1993.
Li returned to China in 1985 and served successively as deputy director, director and spokesperson of the Information Department in the ministry. In 1990, he was promoted to Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and in 1993, he was appointed as Permanent Representative of China to the United Nations. Two years later, he was promoted to Vice Foreign Minister. In 1998, he was appointed as Chinese Ambassador to the United States. During his tenure as ambassador, the relations between China and the United States were strained heavily during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia when the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, was bombed by the United States during the NATO bombing on 7 May 1999, killing three Chinese nationals. In response to incident, Li called the incident as an "horrifying atrocity" and demanded that NATO investigate the incident. On 13 May, after President of the United States Bill Clinton issued a public apology for the incident, Li was present at the Oval Office in the White House when Clinton signed the official condolence book. Following the end of his tenure as ambassador in 2001, the Mayor of Washington D.C. Anthony A. Williams declared 29 January 2001, which was Li's last day in office as ambassador, as "Li Zhaoxing Day", in recognition of Li's efforts in fostering China-United States relations.
In 2001, following his return from the United States, Li was appointed as Vice-Minister. In April 2001, in response to U.S. arms sale to Taiwan, Li said that the "Chinese side strongly urges the U.S. side to recognize the serious, harmful and dangerous nature of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan." On the same month, when asked about the return of the U.S. Navy P-3 Orion surveillance aircraft which made emergency landing on Hainan Island during the Hainan Island incident, he stated that "if we allow such a military plane, which had a mission of spying on China, to be flown back out of China, that will further hurt the dignity and sentiments of the Chinese people." Eventually, the Chinese allowed the aircraft to be returned back to the United States in July 2001.
Li met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang, North Korea in March 2004, as part of international diplomacy in dealing with North Korea's nuclear weapons programme. In April 2005, following the outbreak of 2005 anti-Japanese demonstrations in China in response to the approval of a Japanese history textbook and the proposal that Japan be granted a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, Li met with Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura in Beijing. During the meeting, Li stated the "Chinese government has never done anything for which it has to apologise to the Japanese people" and "the main problem now is the Japanese government has done a series of things that have hurt the feelings of the Chinese people, on the Taiwan issue, some international issues including human rights and especially in its treatment of history."
In August 2007, following Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian's advocacy of Taiwanese independence, Li said to a group of Taiwanese journalists at a press briefing not to listen to "local Taiwanese leaders" and that "whoever wants to split away will become a criminal in history."
He stepped down as Minister of Foreign Affairs in April 2007 and was succeeded by Yang Jiechi. According to leaked US embassy cables, it was alleged that then Chinese President Hu Jintao had Li fired following Hu's 2006 visit to the United States which saw numerous debacles such as no state dinner at the White House, lack of national flags flying between the Blair House and the White House, the presence of Falun Gong protestor at the White House lawn and the national anthem of the People's Republic of China referred as the anthem of the Republic of China.
During his 40 year tenure in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Li published over 200 poems and was nicknamed "poet minister". However, due to his firm stance on the Taiwan issue, coupled with his striking personal image, some people have referred to him as "the minister with a bad temper". Some Taiwanese media considered his rhetoric to be arrogant and in some diplomatic circles, he was often seen as lacking in diplomatic demeanor, with some even referring to him as the "Red Guard Ambassador" or the "Fighting Cock".
Li was appointed as the president of China Public Diplomacy Association in 2012, a position he would serve till 2019. On 5 March 2012, at a press conference of the National People's Congress, Li stated that China does not have direct elections as China is too big and some places have inconvenient transportation so direct elections are inconvenient. He was ridiculed for his comments by netizens.
In January 2022, he joined the Chinese video platform Bilibili. In his first video published in the platform, he spoke of his life and diplomatic experiences, and concluded the video by remarking a quote made by Confucius: "When I walk with two others, they may serve as my teachers." Li was the Chinese representative for the 7th China–Australia High-Level Dialogue held in Beijing in September 2023, the first such summit in three years.
His niece-in-law Qin Feng worked as a reporter for Phoenix Television and has interviewed Chinese politicians.
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