The Japanese government has appointed Yutaka Yokoi as its new ambassador to China.

The 61-year-old will replace the incumbent Masato Kitera who assumed office in 2012. Yokoi is known as a “China-school” diplomat who underwent foreign language training in China.

He joined the foreign ministry in 1979 and has held a number of posts, including director of the China and Mongolia Division, before taking up the ambassadorship in Turkey in August 2013.