Vijay Keshav Gokhale | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 32ndForeign Secretary of India | |
| In office 29 January 2018[1] – 28 January 2020 | |
| Prime Minister | Narendra Modi |
| Minister | Sushma Swaraj Subrahmanyam Jaishankar |
| Preceded by | Subrahmanyam Jaishankar |
| Succeeded by | Harsh Vardhan Shringla |
| Secretary (Economic Relations) in the Ministry of External Affairs | |
| In office 21 October 2017[2] – 29 January 2018 | |
| Preceded by | Amar Sinha |
| Succeeded by | T. S. Tirumurti |
| IndianAmbassador toChina | |
| In office 20 January 2016[3] – 21 October 2017[3] | |
| Preceded by | Ashok Kantha |
| Succeeded by | Gautam Bambawale[4] |
| IndianAmbassador toGermany | |
| In office 1 October 2013 – 20 January 2016[5] | |
| Preceded by | Sujatha Singh |
| Succeeded by | Gurjit Singh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1959-01-24)24 January 1959 (age 66)[6][7] |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Alma mater | University of Delhi |
| Occupation | IFS |
| Profession | Civil Servant Diplomat |
Vijay Keshav GokhaleIFS, (born 24 January 1959),[7] is a retired Indian diplomat and the 32ndForeign Secretary of India. Gokhale previously served as theAmbassador of India to China.[8]
Gokhale hails fromPune.[9] He did his schooling at theSt. Columba's School, Delhi and completed his MA in History fromUniversity of Delhi before joining the Indian Foreign Service in 1981.[10] He is fluent inMarathi, Hindi, English,Sanskrit[11] andMandarin Chinese.[12] He is married to Vandana Gokhale and they have a son, Jayant Gokhale.[citation needed]
Gokhale is anIndian Foreign Service officer of the 1981 batch.[12] He served in Indian diplomatic missions inHong Kong,Hanoi,Beijing andNew York.[7] He served as the Deputy Secretary (Finance), Director (China and East Asia) and Joint Secretary (East Asia) at theMinistry of External Affairs, India.[13]
Gokhale was theHigh Commissioner ofIndia to Malaysia from January 2010 to October 2013[13] and theIndian Ambassador toGermany from October 2013 to January 2016.[14] He was theIndian Ambassador toChina from 20 January 2016 to 21 October 2017.[3] He is currently a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the New Delhi-based think tank, Carnegie India. Gokhale is one of India's most reputed and well-versedsinologists.[citation needed]
Vijay Gokhale is considered as an expert on Chinese affairs.[15] He has the rare distinction of being the onlyIndian Foreign Service officer to have served in both mainlandChina andTaiwan.[16] He was the Director General of theIndia-Taipei Association, Taiwan.[17] Gokhale during his tenure as the Ambassador of India toChina, played a key role in resolving the2017 Doklam crisis between both the nations.[12][18] Statements and actions since the beginning of his tenure indicate that he will push a moderate or dovish position on relations with China.[19] In June 2020 Gokhale stated that China is not seeking aNew World Order.[20]
In 2021 he published a research paper titled "The Road from Galwan"[21] examining different factors influencing theGalwan Valley clash between India and China in Eastern Ladakh, along the Line of Actual Control, and the way forward for the two Himalayan neighbors. Gokhale announced his very first book titled "Tiananmen Square - The Making of a Protest" which is an eye-witness account of the 1989 brutal military crackdown in China and its aftermath from an Indian perspective.