Ambassador Ma Xinmin took up his duty as the Director-General of the Department of Treaty and Law of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in December 2022. Mr Ma was most recently Ambassador of China to Sudan from January 2019 to December 2022. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1993 and has extensive experience in different posts including the Department of Treaty and Law of the MFA, the Chinese Embassy in the United States, the Chinese Representative Office of the Sino-British Joint Liaison Group, the Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Hong Kong and the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong. Mr Ma has long been committed to international law and constitutional law affairs. He was deeply involved in the legal arrangement consultations for Hong Kong’s return to the motherland and led dozens of delegations to participate in international treaty negotiations and international conferences. He represented China in delivering oral statement at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in the Climate Change Advisory Proceedings, which was China’s first appearance before the ITLOS. He is well grounded in profound theories and has rich practical experience in the fields of public international law, the law of the sea, and legal affairs related to Hong Kong and Macao. Mr Ma holds a Master in International Law from China University of Political Science and Law as well as a LL.B. and a LL.M. in Common Law from the University of Hong Kong.