Ling Ji

Ling Ji (Chinese: 凌激; born March 1969) is a Chinese politician who currently serves as Vice Minister of Commerce of the People's Republic of China and Deputy Representative for International Trade Negotiations. He is a member of the Chinese Communist Party, a representative to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party, and a member and Standing Committee member of the 19th Central Commission for Discipline Inspection.^[1]

Ling Ji was born in March 1969 in Taicang, Jiangsu Province. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in November 1996. He studied Russian at Beijing Foreign Studies University (1986–1990) and later earned a master's degree in economics from the University of International Business and Economics (1999–2001).^[2][3][4]

Ling began his career at the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade (later the Ministry of Commerce) in 1990, with early assignments including training at a factory in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province (1990–1991). He served as staff at the Commercial Section of the Chinese Embassy in Ukraine (1992–1995), and then held multiple positions in the European Affairs Department, including Deputy Division Director (1997–2000) and Division Director (2000–2006). He also served as Deputy Director-General of the European Affairs Department (2006–2010). From 2010 to 2013, Ling was Minister-Counsellor (Economic and Commercial) at the Chinese Embassy in Russia. He later returned to the Ministry of Commerce, serving as Commercial Counsellor of the European Department (2013–2014) and Director-General of the Eurasian Department (2014–2016).^[5]

Ling then transitioned to disciplinary and supervisory roles:^[4] Director of the Fourth Discipline Inspection and Supervision Office of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (2016–2017), Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Supervision (2017–2018), member of the Standing Committee of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and member of the National Supervisory Commission (2018–2022), including Minister of the Organization Department of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Supervisory Commission. In October 2022, Ling was appointed Vice Minister of Commerce and Deputy Representative for International Trade Negotiations.^[3][6]