Liu Yuhe

Ambassador to Algeria

Date of Birth: November 1956
Place of Birth: Hebei

China has diverse commercial and political interests in Algeria, leaving Ambassador Liu Yuhe with plenty to do. Investigations into the US$12 billion East-West Highway project, in which Chinese companies are involved, led to eight arrests earlier this year. China Railway Construction Corporation later lost two lucrative contracts after a Defence Ministry investigation (AAC Vol 3 No 5 and 8). After vigorous protestations, Liu has settled into a wait-and-see attitude: 'Let the lawyers do their work,' he told Le Expression, an Algiers daily.

An 2008 accord on nuclear cooperation attracted the notice of non-proliferation watchdogs. In 1991, it emerged that China Zhongyuan Engineering Corporation had built Algeria's first reactor, the 15-megawatt Es Salaam research reactor, on the sly. Any further Chinese-assisted reactors are unlikely to be ready soon; even a goal of 2017 looks optimistic.

Liu was born in Hebei in 1956. He joined the Protocol Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after finishing university in 1980. His first overseas posting was to China's embassy in Mali in 1984. He returned to Beijing in 1988, joining the Department of Personnel, where he rose over the next 7 years to department head.

From 1995 to 1998, he was attaché to China's embassy in Congo-Kinshasa. He was Deputy Director of Personnel from 1998-2000, then Director from 2000-2003. In 2003, he was made Ambassador to Tunisia and Palestine, concurrently. He has been in Algeria since 2008.