Because in the early days of the founding of New China, the country began to build a diplomatic team and select diplomatic cadres.

At that time, the main source of diplomats was a group of general-level cadres transferred from the army, such as Yuan Zhongxian, Huang Zhen and Geng Biao. They have been engaged in military and political struggles for a long time and have accumulated rich experience in struggle, which can be fully applied to the practice of diplomatic struggle. They are mainly sent to foreign embassies to hold leadership positions such as ambassadors, so they are called "general ambassadors".

In addition, in the diplomatic history of New China, Chen Yi also served as Foreign Minister, known as "Marshal Diplomat".