It is a significant step up for the ministerial-level agency, which usually concentrates on intraparty relations and fellow socialist countries such as North Korea and Vietnam, leaving state-to-state diplomacy to the foreign affairs ministry.

But with China locked in an acrimonious cold war-style confrontation with the US and its Western allies, Liu’s department has taken on a greater role in helping to foster a more benign international environment for the country.

Observers described Liu, 59, as a trusted aide to Xi. They generally spoke positively of his high-profile engagement and activities.

In October, shortly before President Xi Jinping met his US counterpart Joe Biden in San Francisco last month, Liu chaired a “Track 1.5 dialogue” – talks that typically involve governmental officials, speaking in a non-official capacity, and non-government figures – with the Asia Society, an American think tank.

Neil Thomas, a Chinese politics fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Centre for China Analysis, described the event as “candid and constructive”.

“Party-to-party diplomacy is a useful complement to traditional diplomacy because it attracts less media scrutiny and allows Beijing to cultivate ties with foreign politicians who are both in government and opposition,” he said.

According to Thomas, Liu’s background as “a tactful diplomat who speaks sophisticated English made him well-suited to play a supporting role in Xi’s attempt over recent months to ease diplomatic tensions with the West”.

“Liu appears to be a trusted diplomatic lieutenant of the Xi era, having previously spearheaded Xi’s campaign to track down corrupt officials abroad, then working in Xi’s old power base of Zhejiang province, and now holding a seat on the [Communist Party] Central Committee,” he said.

Chinese Communist Party’s diplomatic arm in ‘candid’ meeting with US think tank

Liu’s busy travel schedule is in contrast to his predecessor Song Tao, who made only a few trips outside Asia – to France, Norway, Canada, South Africa and Cuba – during his tenure between 2015 and 2022.

Of the 18 countries Liu has visited, 11 were outside Asia, including Britain, Italy, France, Germany and South Africa. Last month, he became the most senior Chinese official to visit Australia since 2017.

In a speech at the University of Technology Sydney, Liu said China respected “the role and the influence of Australia in the Pacific Island countries”, in a softened tone that signalled Beijing’s willingness to reset ties with Canberra after years of friction.

But he also commented on the recent row involving Chinese and Australian warships, calling for Australia to exercise “great prudence” during its naval operations in the South China Sea, which he said were viewed by Beijing as attempts to “contain China”.

China not targeting Australia’s Pacific Island ties: Communist Party official

During visits to Britain and Italy in June, and again in October while in France and Germany, Liu called on European countries to reject all forms of decoupling and “de-risking” from China.

He also urged European countries to maintain strategic autonomy and distance themselves from Washington’s anti-China coalition.

Earlier this month, against the backdrop of the prolonged Israel-Gaza war, Liu visited Iran, a top military backer of Hamas, and pledged Beijing’s support for Tehran’s regional role, as well as to “strengthen communication and cooperation”.

A mainland-based diplomatic analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Liu is notably more proactive when it comes to courting ties with countries that are not ideologically aligned with China, compared with Song.

Wolf Warrior diplomacy, named after a series of ultra-nationalistic action movies, is characterised by its outspoken and hawkish defence of the country’s positions.

Chinese foreign minister switch: Wolf Warrior, hopes of stability

Liu and the department’s portfolio were thrown into the spotlight after the replacement of Qin Gang, who was appointed foreign minister in late December and disappeared suddenly from the public eye at the end of June.

Qin’s successor in the role was the more senior diplomat Wang Yi, 70, the foreign minister who was promoted to the Politburo last year and then director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission.

02:49

Big political questions linger after China abruptly replaces its foreign minister

Big political questions linger after China abruptly replaces its foreign minister

Liu, who briefly studied foreign relations at Oxford University in the 1980s, was foreign ministry spokesman from 2001 to 2009 and headed the information department from 2006, until his appointment as China’s ambassador to the Philippines and Indonesia.

In a surprise move, he was promoted in 2015 from assistant foreign minister to a vice-ministerial position as head of the international cooperation department of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, the party’s top anti-corruption body.

The role made Liu Beijing’s point man in its efforts to hunt down corruption suspects outside the mainland. It was followed by a move in 2017 to one of Xi’s power bases in Zhejiang, where he become the province’s anti-corruption chief.

In 2018, Liu returned to Beijing as a deputy to Xi’s former top foreign policy aide Yang Jiechi, then a Politburo member and head of the general office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs.

Chinese diplomat warns US security adviser about Washington’s Taiwan moves

Zhu Feng, a professor of international affairs at Nanjing University, described Liu as a seasoned veteran with strong diplomatic skills and background.

Thomas, from the Asia Society, said he believed Liu was a leading candidate to become the country’s next foreign minister when Wang steps down.

“[Liu]’s conspicuous diplomacy in the West could be something of an audition for this more high-profile and high-ranking role,” he said.

Thomas noted that Xi has positioned Liu’s department “at the forefront” of the party’s greater efforts to train foreign officials to win approval for Chinese policies and encourage other countries to learn from China’s governance experience.

Provincial leaders take centre stage in China’s push to charm neighbours

Xi gave a further boost to the international liaison department’s profile, with the launch of a series of high-level briefings and dialogues between the party and more than 600 political parties and groups in over 160 countries, Thomas said, citing official data.

Yun Sun, co-director of the East Asia Programme and director of the Washington-based Stimson Centre’s China Programme, said Liu’s department was “generally more active in China’s diplomacy in recent years, especially in engaging with political parties in non-communist countries”.

“This is to serve Xi’s diplomatic agenda and to ‘tell the CCP’s story well’,” she said, quoting an interview given by the department’s spokesman Hu Zhaoming to state news agency Xinhua early this year.

Liu’s busy schedule could also be attributed to Beijing’s scramble to reconnect with the world after three years of Covid-19 isolation, according to Sun. “Active diplomatic engagement was [intended] to show that China is back on the world stage.”

Sun said it was not surprising that Liu has a different leadership style to Song, 68, who is chief of the Taiwan Affairs office and widely seen as a Xi protege.

“Song was a domestic bureaucrat who joined the foreign service at the age of 46,” she said, noting that his fewer overseas trips in the role were partly due to the pandemic lockdowns.

“Liu is a career diplomat, having served as foreign ministry spokesman as well as [holding] multiple ambassador positions. Song has not been famous for keeping a high profile. In comparison, Liu appears more accustomed to high-profile engagement and activities,” Sun said.