The foreign ministry has nearly halved the number of overseas diplomatic missions in countries that it deems hard to live in reflecting improvements in certain nations as part of an effort to provide more support for diplomats serving in posts that pose greater difficulties, an official said Tuesday.
Many of the missions delisted as "special posts" in the ministry's classification of 155 diplomatic missions are in Brazil, Russia, India and China, as living conditions in the so-called BRICs nations improved in tandem with their economic growth.
A total of 99 out of the 155 missions had been classified as special posts where diplomats are eligible for extra allowances. But the ministry has reduced the number to 55 to provide better support for those serving in missions with worse living environments, the official said.
Those delisted from special posts among the BRICs nations include missions in Brasilia in Brazil; Moscow, St. Petersburg and Vladivostok in Russia; New Delhi and Mumbai in India; and Shenyang, Chengdu and Qingdao in China, the official said.
But Russia's Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and Irkutsk still remained special posts.
Other delisted missions include those in Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Egypt.