Bertrand Lortholary

Mr. Bertrand Lortholary became Ambassador of France to China in March 2023.

Bertrand Lortholary joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after graduating from the Institute of Political Science (Sciences-Po) in Paris, the University of Paris-Dauphine, the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO, studying Chinese), and from the National School of Administration (ENA, in the 1997 “Marc Bloch” graduation year).

He began his career at the Quai d’Orsay as a member of the Directorate for Africa and the Indian Ocean, where he mainly covered the conflict in the Great Lakes region in Central Africa. He later joined the Political Affairs General Director’s staff from 1998 to 2001. His career led him, first to Washington, as an exchange diplomat at the State Department, then at the French Embassy, where he covered Asian and African political issues, between 2002 and 2005. After Washington, he served as senior counsellor for political affairs at the French Embassy in China from 2005 to 2008. From 2008 to 2012, Bertrand Lortholary served as senior advisor for Asian and Pacific affairs to the President of the French Republic.

He was appointed Consul General of France in New York in 2012 and completed his mission in the United States in August 2016. He then served as French Ambassador to Vietnam from 2016 to 2019. Before taking up his position as director for Asia and Oceania in October 2020, Bertrand Lortholary served as chief diplomatic advisor to the Prime Minister of the French Republic.