China's customs chief and trade veteran dies of sudden illness

BEIJING: China’s customs chief Yu Jianhua, a top trade negotiator who navigated the country through the trade war during Donald Trump’s previous presidential term, died of an undisclosed sudden illness on Tuesday (Dec 10).

The 63-year-old abruptly fell ill on Tuesday and emergency rescue efforts failed to save him, the General Administration of Customs said in a statement late Wednesday. No details about his illness were given.

Yu had attended a few engagements this month, including a meeting with senior Chinese officials from the northeastern province of Jilin in Beijing on the day he died, according to Hong Kong media reports. 

A statement on the meeting on the website of the Jilin provincial government has since been removed. 

Yu’s last public appearance, according to the customs website, was a Dec 3 meeting with Chilean Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren on the signing of agricultural trade agreements. 

Yu had been the director of the General Administration of Customs since April 2022. 

Prior to that, he was recalled from a posting in Switzerland in 2019 to serve as a vice commerce minister when trade negotiations between China and the United States during the Trump era broke down. 

In 2021, he became China’s international trade representative. 

He was China’s permanent representative to the World Trade Organisation in 2013-2017.