Xie took 100 metres silver and 200 metres gold at the 2012 Asian Junior Athletics Championships. He was also a finalist in both events at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics. He was China's representative in the 200 m at the 2012 London Olympics but did not progress beyond the heats. He equalled the Chinese record for that event with a run of 20.54 seconds and closed his year with a win at the Chinese Athletics Championships. In his opening meeting of 2013 he ran a 60 metres best of 6.66 seconds and broke the Chinese indoor record in the 200 m, running 20.93 seconds.