Vijay Keshav Gokhale

Vijay Keshav Gokhale
32nd Foreign Secretary of India
Assumed office
29 January 2018[1]
Preceded by Dr.Subrahmanyam Jaishankar
Secretary (Economic Relations), Ministry of External Affairs, India
In office
2017[2] – 2018
Preceded by Amar Sinha
Succeeded by T. S. Tirumurti
Indian Ambassador to China
In office
20 January 2016[3] – 21 October 2017[3]
Preceded by Ashok Kantha
Succeeded by Gautam Bambawale[4]
Indian Ambassador to Germany
In office
October 2013 – January 2016[5]
Preceded by Sujatha Singh
Succeeded by Gurjit Singh
Personal details
Born 24 January 1959[6][7]
Nationality Indian
Alma mater University of Delhi
Occupation Diplomat IFS

Vijay Keshav Gokhale; born 24 January 1959[7] is an Indian diplomat and the current Foreign Secretary of India. Gokhale was previously the Indian ambassador to China.[8][9][10][11]

Personal life

Gokhale hails from Pune.[12] He is fluent in Sanskrit[13] and Mandarin Chinese.[14] He is married to Vandana Gokhale and they have a son. Vijay Gokhale holds a Master of Arts degree in history from the University of Delhi.[15][16]

Career

Gokhale is an Indian Foreign Service officer of the 1981 batch.[14] He served in Indian diplomatic missions in Hong Kong, Hanoi, Beijing and New York.[7] He served as the Deputy Secretary (Finance), Director (China and East Asia) and Joint Secretary (East Asia) at the Ministry of External Affairs, India.[17]

Gokhale was the High Commissioner of India to Indonesia from January 2010 to October 2013[17] and the Indian Ambassador to Germany from October 2013 to January 2016.[18] He was the Indian Ambassador to China from 20 January 2016 to 21 October 2017.[3]

Expertise

Vijay Gokhale is considered as an expert on China.[15] He has the rare distinction of being the only Indian Foreign Service officer to have served in both mainland China and Taiwan.[19] He was the Director General of the India-Taipei Association, Taiwan.[20] Gokhale during his tenure as the Ambassador of India to China, played a key role in resolving the 2017 Doklam crisis between both the nations.[14][21] Statements and actions since the beginning of his tenure indicate that he will push a moderate or dovish position on relations with China.[22]

References

  1. ↑ "Vijay Gokhale takes over as foreign secretary: Fixing neighbourhood policy, checking China's rise top priorities - Firstpost". www.firstpost.com.
  2. ↑ Feeds, IANS (29 June 2017). "Beijing envoy Vijay Keshav Gokhale is new Secretary (ER)".
  3. 1 2 3 "Embassy Of India, Beijing". indianembassybeijing.in.
  4. ↑ "Gautam Bambawale India's next ambassador to China". 12 October 2017.
  5. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20180422062543/https://www.indianembassy.de/pages.php?id=8
  6. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20180422070724/https://mea.gov.in/writereaddata/images/Civi_List_27-7-12.pdf
  7. 1 2 3 "Welcome to High Commission of India, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)". 8 February 2013.
  8. ↑ "Vijay Keshav Gokhale appointed as the next Ambassador of India to the People's Republic of China". gov.in. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  9. ↑ "Vijay Keshav Gokhale new envoy to China". thehindu.com. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  10. ↑ "Vijay Keshav Gokhale appointed ambassador to China". indiatoday.intoday.in. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  11. ↑ "Vijay Keshav Gokhale takes over as Indian envoy to China". economictimes.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  12. ↑ https://www.loksatta.com/desh-videsh-news/vijay-keshav-gokhale-takes-charge-as-foreign-secretary-mea-india-all-you-need-to-know-about-him-1623497/
  13. ↑ "विजय गोखले". 3 January 2018.
  14. 1 2 3 Haidar, Suhasini (2018-01-06). "Who is Vijay Gokhale, the China expert in the hot seat". The Hindu. Retrieved 2018-01-30.
  15. 1 2 "Vijay Gokhale to succeed S Jaishankar as foreign secretary: Veteran diplomat's China expertise will be key - Firstpost". www.firstpost.com.
  16. ↑ http://www.mea.gov.in/fs.htm
  17. 1 2 PTI. "Vijay Gokhale, an Expert on China and East Asia, Assumes Charge as Foreign Secretary - The Wire". thewire.in.
  18. ↑ "Previous Ambassadors - Embassy of India,Berlin - Germany". www.indianembassy.de.
  19. ↑ Chaudhury, Dipanjan Roy (30 January 2018). "Vijay Keshav Gokhale, expert on China, is new Foreign Secretary" – via The Economic Times.
  20. ↑ "Vijay Keshav Gokhale Succeeds Jaishankar as Foreign Secretary".
  21. ↑ "Vijay Gokhale, Who Helped Resolve Doklam Standoff, Takes Charge as Foreign Secretary".
  22. ↑ "Govt sends out note: Very sensitive time for ties with China, so skip Dalai Lama events". The Indian Express. 2018-03-02. Retrieved 2018-03-18.
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