Born in September 1957, the new Ambassador of the Chinese People’s Republic to Cameroon, Wei Wenhua, takes over the position from his country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he was an Ambassador since 2011.
Prior to this, he was Ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire from 2007 to 2011, after a short spell from 2006 to 2007 as Ambassador in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A diplomat with a rich career beginning in 1985, His Excellency Wei Wenhua was also Ambassador to Mali from 2003 to 2006, Deputy Director, then Deputy Secretary General of the Committee for Internal Party Organisation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2003; and Second, then First Secretary in the Department for West Asia and North Africa in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1996.
From 1985 to 1991, he was member of the Committee in charge of Internal Party Organisation in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and then Secretary General of the Communist Party Youth League in the same ministry. This was to be followed from 1991 to 1993 with his appointment as Second Secretary to the Permanent Mission of the Chinese People’s Republic to the United Nations Office in Geneva, Switzerland. Ambassador Wei Wenhua is married and father of one child.
He takes over at a time of strengthened ties between Cameroon and China, with his Foreign Affairs Minister, Wang Yi, expected in the country on an official visit as from January 12, 2015. The Chinese People’s Republic has been a trusted development partner to Cameroon over the years. Its relations cover among others, areas such as education, health, culture and tourism, agriculture, telecommunications and major infrastructure projects.
These include the construction of the Lom Pangar, Memve’ele and Mekin hydro-power dams, the Yaounde Sports Complex, Douala Water Supply Scheme, the backbone project for transmission by optical fibre and the Bafoussam and Limbe stadia. Chinese companies are also handling the Kribi Deep Seaport project, portions of the Yaounde-Nsimalen Dual Carriageway and the Yaounde-Douala Expressway.
