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Achargé d'affaires (French pronunciation:[ʃaʁʒedafɛʁ]ⓘ), pluralchargés d'affaires, often shortened tochargé (French) and sometimes in colloquial English tocharge-D, is adiplomat who serves as an embassy'schief of mission in the absence of theambassador. The term isFrench for "person charged with business", meaning they are responsible for the duties of an ambassador.Chargé is masculine ingender; the feminine form ischargée d'affaires (pronounced the same way).
Achargé enjoys the same privileges and immunities as an ambassador underinternational law, and normally these extend to their aides as well.[1] However,chargés d'affaires areoutranked by ambassadors and have lower precedence at formal diplomatic events.[2] In most cases, a diplomat serves as achargé d'affaires on a temporary basis in the absence of the ambassador. In unusual situations, in cases where disputes between the two countries make it impossible or undesirable to send agents of a higherdiplomatic rank, achargé d'affaires may be appointed for an indefinite period.[3]
Chargés d'affairesad interim ("a.i.") are those who temporarily head a diplomatic mission in the absence of the accredited head of that mission. It is usual to appoint aminister-counsellor, counsellor, or embassy secretary aschargé d'affairesad interim, and that person is presented to the foreign minister of the receiving state.[3] By definition,chargés d'affairesad interim do not possessdiplomatic credentials.[4]
Chargés d'affairesen pied ("e.p.") are appointed to be permanent heads of mission, in cases where the two countries lack ambassadorial-level relations.[5][6] They are appointed byletters of credence from the foreign minister of the sending state to the foreign minister of the receiving state.Chargés d'affairesen pied haveprecedence overchargés d'affairesad interim, but are outranked by ambassadors. They are sometimes referred to aschargés d'affairesad hoc oren titre.[2][7][4]
In certain cases, achargé d'affaires may be appointed for long periods, such as when a mission is headed by a non-resident ambassador who is accredited to multiple countries. In addition, a mission may be downgraded from an ambassadorial to achargé d'affaires level to show displeasure, yet avoid taking the extremely serious step of breaking diplomatic relations. For example,Saudi Arabia andThailand did not exchange ambassadors between 1989 and 2022,[8] due to theBlue Diamond Affair.[9] TheHoly See recalled the ambassador toTaipei right afterUnited Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 ceased to recognize the Republic of China as the sole legitimate representative of China, and thuschargé d'affaires becomes the most top-ranked de facto envoy toTaipei since then (the ambassador did not leave his position until 1979).
Sometimes when diplomatic recognition is extended to a new government, achargé may be sent to immediately establish diplomatic representation. However, if a timely exchange of ambassadors does not take place, this may result in a prolonged period ofchargé-level relations. For example, the United Kingdom recognized thePeople's Republic of China in 1950 and posted achargé d'affaires in the new capital ofBeijing. However, China was unwilling to exchange ambassadors until the United Kingdom withdrew its consulate fromTaipei.Sino-British relations were not upgraded to the ambassadorial level until 1972.[10]
Since achargé d'affaires presents his or hercredentials to the foreign minister rather than the head of state, the appointment of achargé may avoid a politically sensitive meeting that would imply approval or recognition of that head of state or government. Similarly, the receiving country may decline to receive an ambassador, but still maintain diplomatic relations by accepting achargé. For example, theRepublic of Cyprus appoints a number ofchargés d'affairesen pied to its embassies abroad.[11]
In modern use,chargés d'affaires essentially differ fromambassadors in that, like all diplomats,chargés represent their nation, but unlike an ambassador, they are not personal representatives of their head of state. Apart fromrank and precedence,chargés enjoy the same privileges and immunities as other diplomatic agents.[3]
However, there have been rare historical circumstances in which the titlechargé d'affaires was in fact employed in a more significant colonial role, as commonly held by aresident. Thus, inAnnam-Tonkin (most of presentVietnam), the first Frenchchargé d'affaires atHuế, the local ruler's capital, since 1875, one of them (three terms) was appointed the firstresident-general on 11 June 1884, as they stopped being tributary to the Chinese Empire, less than a year after the 25 August 1883 French protectorates over Annam and Tonkin (central and northern regions).[further explanation needed]
In French,chargé d'affaires may be used outside diplomacy to designate an individual with some more or less temporary responsibility for a specific area of business, understood broadly.[citation needed]
Chargé d'affaires generally follows French usage:chargé d'affaires is singular,chargés d'affaires for plural. The"d'affaires" is always in the plural form, and should be lowercase even ifChargé is capitalized. Following the French declension,chargée d'affaires (with the feminine ending) may be seen where thechargé is female.
For temporarychargés,ad interim may or may not be added depending on the context, but is always lower case; it may be italicized or shortened to simply a.i.
There currently is no U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela; the U.S. Charge d'Affaires en pied is Lee McClenny.
Chargés d'affairesad interim are distinct from the 'chargés d'affaires accredited to Ministers for Foreign Affairs' who are listed under Article 14 of the Convention as forming the third class of heads of mission. The latter are often described as 'chargés d'affairsen pied ', and can be traced back to the eighteenth century 'agents'.
Chargé d'Affaires: An officer in charge of an embassy who is not an ambassador, e.g., when the level of relations between two states has been lowered to below the ambassadorial level, and accredited to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, rather than to the chief of state. In such circumstances, termedChargé d'Affaires ad hoc.
Mr. Nabil Ashri said that "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's goal on this issue stems directly from its firm and clear foreign policy of non-interference, and seeking closer cooperation and developing friendly international relations, as its relations with the Kingdom of Thailand suffered because of the appalling unsolved crimes currently pending and which have resulted in the downgrading of bilateral relations affecting both the people of Saudi Arabia and Thailand for more than 20 years", adding "it is my duty to try to negotiate this issue with the Thai Government, in order to avoid any further tension or undesirable complications in bilateral relations".
When early last year we decided to resume discussions with the Chinese Government on this subject we told them that if an agreement on an exchange of ambassadors was reached we would be prepared to withdraw our consulate from Taiwan. This we shall now do.
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