Ambassador of China to Niger
Xia Huang’s short tenure as Ambassador to Niger has been anything but uneventful. Since his arrival in Niamey in November 2009, Xia has contended with a coup that overthrew President Mamadou Tandja and strikes over working conditions at the Chinese-operated Société des Mines d’Azelik uranium mine – quite a burden for an untested diplomat. The military coup on 18 February hardly interrupted the tide of Chinese investment. While the West condemned the coup, Xia moved quickly to strike cordial relations with the military junta. Chinese interests escaped disruption and Xia lashed out at the ‘campaign of attacks and slander’ that attended China’s absence of censure of the coup....
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