Former ambassador to France Lu Shaye, who enraged many in Europe in 2023 when he questioned the sovereignty of former Soviet states and whether Crimea was part of Ukraine, had been appointed China’s special representative for European affairs, the foreign ministry said.

China named Lu Shaye, a “wolf warrior” known for his combative statements, as Special Representative for European Affairs.

Lu, 60, earned a reputation for making frequent combative statements during his five-year tenure as Beijing's envoy to Paris, which ended in December. These included his 2023 claim that ex-Soviet states had "no effective status in international law",