Six years can be an eternity for a diplomat, whose term at a posting can be as short as a year and usually lasts no more than three or four. That makes Liu Fei – China’s consul general and top official representative in Vancouver since 2011 – a rarity among diplomatic circles.
But the long term also means that she has been witness to (and, at times, at the helm of) some important moments during the evolution of B.C.’s trade relationship with China under ChristyClark’s Liberal government, which also started in 2011. Now, just as a new BC NDP-BC Green Party minority government led by John Horgan is set to take the reins in B.C., Liu is ending her time in Vancouver and returning to Beijing at the end of August.
During her term, B.C.’s commodity exports to China grew to $6.2 billion – 18.4% of the provincial total.
