A meeting this week between the general secretary of Kenya’s new ruling party, the United Democratic Alliance, and China’s envoy to Nairobi provides a fresh reminder of the dual roles that Chinese ambassadors play in their assigned countries.
Zhou Pingjiang represents the interests of both the Chinese state and the Communist Party of China, two distinct entities. In the case of Monday’s meeting with Veronica Maina from the UDA, he was there to foster party-to-party ties, according to a readout published on the embassy’s Chinese-language WeChat channel.