南京国民政府时期，尤其是“九一八”事变前后至抗战胜利结束的这段时期，驻外使节的政治任用情形较为普遍。这一时期，南京国民政府多以国民党内的军政要人，如蒋作宾、刘文岛、程天放等人直接充任中国驻外使节，办理外交事务。相比于职业外交官而言，这些被赋予特殊使命的驻外使节，在国民党内各派系中拥有较高的政治地位与声望，便于国民党推行其外交政策与对外交涉；但他们多缺乏专业的外交知识与训练，导致在外交博弈的舞台上稍显生疏，外交生涯也较为短暂。
During the period of the Nanjing National Government, especially during the period from the September 18th Incident to the end of the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the political appointments of diplomatic envoys were more common. During this period, most of the important military and political figures in the Kuomintang, such as Jiang Zuobin, Liu Wendao, Cheng Tianfang, directly served as Chinese envoys abroad to conduct diplomacy. Compared with professional diplomats, these foreign envoys with special missions had high political status and prestige in various factions of the Kuomintang, which was convenient for the Kuomintang to carry out its foreign policy and handle foreign affairs. However, most of them lacked professional diplomatic knowledge and training, which made them unfamiliar with foreign affairs, and their diplomatic careers were relatively short-lived.
