Biographical Note

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS MAJOR GENERAL ZHAO JINGMIN of CHINA

 

AS FORCE COMMANDER for western sahara mission

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has appointed Major General Zhao Jingmin of China as Force Commander in the United Nations Mission for the Referendum in Western Sahara (MINURSO).

Since October 2003, Major General Zhao has held senior appointments in the Office of Peacekeeping Affairs of China’s Ministry of National Defence.  From 2002 to 2003, he was a Senior Colonel at the National Defence University.  From 1998 to 2001, he was his Government’s Military Attaché in Tunisia.

Major General Zhao served in the United Nations Iraq-Kuwait Observation Mission (UNIKOM) as Chief Liaison Officer from April 1996 to April 1997 and in MINURSO as United Nations Military Observer from September 1991 to June 1992.

Major General Zhao was born in Shanxi, China, in 1954.  He holds degrees in humanities from the Beijing Foreign Language Institute and the University of Dakar, Senegal.  He obtained junior, intermediary and senior command level diplomas from the Infantry School of Shijiazhuang, the Shijiazhuang Military Academy and the People’s Liberation Army Academy of National Defence, respectively.

Major General Zhao is fluent in English and French.  He is married and has one daughter.

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For information media • not an official record