By convention, the retirement age of deputy ministerial officials is 60. However, this practice is not suitable for deputy ministerial diplomats, because the qualifications of overseas officials and the policy continuity of bilateral relations should be considered.

However, when Ambassador Cui Tiankai left his post at the age of nearly 69, it was quite rare for him to serve for such a long time. Even ministerial officials, most of them will leave their front-line posts at the age of 65.

In fact, Ambassador Cui Tiankai was 6 1 year old when he took office in the United States. At the age of 60, he was sent to the United States and became the most important ambassador in bilateral relations in the world, which showed that he was highly valued.

Ambassador Cui Tiankai's "extended service" has gone far beyond the discussion on whether the retirement age has reached the limit. Obviously, this is generally because the relationship between the two countries is particularly important and a particularly "dynamic" ambassador is needed.

Another example of "extended service" is Liu Xiaoming, the former ambassador to Britain who stepped down at the end of 2002 1 and1. He served as ambassador to Britain 1 1 year, and was 65 years old when he left office.

However, he did not completely withdraw from the diplomatic field, but continued to serve as the special representative of the Chinese government for Korean Peninsula affairs and continued to shine in the diplomatic field.