Lu Shaye

{{Infobox officeholder

| image = Ambassadeur de Chine sans filtre Lu Shaye.png

| caption = Lu in 2021

| office = Special Representative of the Chinese Government for European Affairs

| term_start = February 2025

| term_end =

| predecessor = Wu Hongbo

| successor =

| office1 = Ambassador of China
to France and to Monaco

| term_start1 = July 2019

| term_end1 = January 2025

| predecessor1 = Zhai Jun

| successor1 = Deng Li

| office2 = Ambassador of China to Canada

| term_start2 = February 2017

| term_end2 = June 2019

| predecessor2 = Luo Zhaohui

| successor2 = Cong Peiwu

| office3 = Ambassador of China to Senegal

| term_start3 = January 2006

| term_end3 = November 2009

| predecessor3 = Cang Youheng

| successor3 = Gong Yuanxing

| name = Lu Shaye

| native_name = {{nobold|卢沙野}}

| native_name_lang = zh

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1964|10}}

| birth_place = Nanjing, Jiangsu, China

| death_date =

| death_place =

| party = Chinese Communist Party

| spouse = Wang Liwen

| children = 1

| parents =

| relations =

| religion =

| alma_mater = China Foreign Affairs University

| website =

}}

Lu Shaye ({{zh|s=卢沙野}}; born October 1964) is a Chinese diplomat currently serving as the Special Representative of the Chinese Government for European Affairs since February 2025.

Lu previously served as Ambassador of China to France and to Monaco from 2019 to 2025, as Ambassador of China to Canada from 2017 to 2019, and as Ambassador of China to Senegal from 2006 to 2009. Lu is known as a prominent wolf warrior diplomat, with combative remarks during his ambassadorship in France. He joined the Chinese foreign service in 1987 after graduating from college.

Early life

Lu Shaye was born in Nanjing, Jiangsu, in October 1964. He is a native of Yueqing, Zhejiang.{{Cite web |title=原中国驻法大使卢沙野已任欧洲事务特别代表 |url=https://www.zaobao.com.sg/realtime/china/story20250206-5839132 |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=www.zaobao.com.sg |language=zh-Hans}} He attended the Nanjing Foreign Language School for high school, where he learnt to speak French and English. In 1982, he went to the China Foreign Affairs University for college.

Career

Lu Shaye began his foreign service career in 1987 as a staff member at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China (MFA). From 1988 to 1991, he was posted to the Embassy of China in the Republic of Guinea, where he served as a staff member and attaché. Upon returning to China, he worked in the MFA Department of African Affairs from 1991 to 1999, advancing through various positions, including attaché, third secretary, deputy division director, first secretary, and division director.{{Cite web |title=卢沙野大使简历 |url=http://fr.china-embassy.gov.cn/zgyw/200408/t20040820_10020505.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250206182350/http://fr.china-embassy.gov.cn/zgyw/200408/t20040820_10020505.htm |archive-date=2025-02-06 |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=fr.china-embassy.gov.cn}}

Between 1999 and 2001, Lu was appointed as a counselor in the MFA Department of African Affairs. He then served as a counselor at the Embassy of China in the French Republic from 2001 to 2003. After returning from France, he served as Deputy Director-General of the MFA Department of African Affairs, from 2003 to 2005.

From 2005 to 2009, Lu served as the Ambassador of China to Senegal, overseeing diplomatic relations between the two countries. He then returned to Beijing, where he led the MFA Department of African Affairs as Director-General from 2009 to 2014.

From 2014 to 2015, Lu briefly transitioned to a domestic role as Vice Mayor of the city of Wuhan, Hubei Province. In 2015, he was later recalled to Beijing and was appointed Director-General of the Policy Research Bureau at the Office of the Central Leading Group for Foreign Affairs.

Lu resumed his diplomatic career in 2016 when he was appointed Ambassador of China to Canada, serving until 2019. He then took on a key European diplomatic post as Ambassador of China to France and to Monaco, a position he held until February 2025. He also served as member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (2023–2028) from the Friendship with Foreign Countries Sector.{{Cite web |date=18 January 2023 |title=中国人民政治协商会议第十四届全国委员会委员名单 |trans-title=List of members of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference |url=http://www.cppcc.gov.cn/zxww/2023/01/18/ARTI1674005617470226.shtml |url-status= |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=5 December 2023 |website=Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference}}

In February 2025, Lu was appointed as the Special Representative of the Chinese Government for European Affairs.{{Cite web |last=腾讯网 |date=2025-02-06 |title=卢沙野，有新职_腾讯新闻 |url=https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20250206A06RTP00 |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=news.qq.com |language=zh-CN}}{{Cite news |last=Foy |first=Henry |last2=Leahy |first2=Joe |date=2025-02-06 |title=China appoints ‘wolf warrior’ ambassador to manage affairs with Europe |url=https://www.ft.com/content/3b608fa8-1af7-41a2-bd71-31c2eda33dbf |access-date=2025-02-08 |work=Financial Times}}

= Media remarks =

In August 2022, after Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, Lu said that the people of Taiwan had been brainwashed by pro-independence ideas saying, "I'm sure that as long as they are re-educated, the Taiwanese public will once again become patriots".{{Cite news |last1=Buckley |first1=Chris |last2=Chien |first2=Amy Chang |last3=Liu |first3=John |date=2022-08-07 |title=After China's Military Spectacle, Options Narrow for Winning Over Taiwan |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/07/world/asia/china-taiwan-military-unification.html |access-date=2022-08-08 |issn=0362-4331}}

In December 2022, Lu said of the 2022 COVID-19 protests in China that, "Foreign forces came into play already on the second day".{{Cite web |date=2022-12-15 |title=Diplomat blames 'foreign forces' for boosting China's Covid-19 protests |url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3203384/diplomat-blames-foreign-forces-boosting-chinas-covid-19-protests |access-date=2023-01-27 |website=South China Morning Post |language=en}}

On 22 April 2023 in a televised interview with Darius Rochebin, Lu stated that former Soviet countries "have no effective status in international law". When asked whether he thought Crimea belonged to Ukraine, Lu said, "it depends on how you perceive the problem", adding that "it's not that simple" and that Crimea was "Russian at the beginning", without specifying what he meant by beginning.{{Cite tweet |user=LCI |number=1649494075358294016 |title=Question test "Est-ce que la Crimée, à vos yeux, c'est l'Ukraine ?.}}{{cite web | title= China's ambassador to France says former Soviet countries have 'no status in international law' | url=https://kyivindependent.com/chinas-ambassador-to-france-says-former-soviet-countries-have-no-effective-status-in-international-law/ |newspaper=The Kyiv Independent |publisher=|access-date=22 April 2023}} His words struck a chord with Lula the president of Brazil who said essentially the same thing during the same week.{{cite news |date=27 April 2023 |title=Lula da Silva: "Cada bando quiere ganar y muchas veces una guerra no necesita un ganador" |publisher=El País |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQjtfjCALkM}} Lu’s intervention on Crimea prompted a response from Ukraine's ambassador to France Vadym Omelchenko who suggested raising the question "who owns Vladivostok?" with the Chinese ambassador next time.{{cite web | title= Посол дорікнув дипломату Китаю у Франції, для якого "не все просто" зі статусом України і Криму | url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/news/2023/04/22/7399008/ |newspaper=Ukrainska Pravda |publisher=|access-date=22 April 2023| lang=uk}}{{Cite tweet |user=OmelchenkoVadym |number=1649695934056374272 |title=Question test "A qui appartient la Crimée?" est révélatrice comme d’habitude.}} The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs issued a response on Twitter stating that Lu's remarks were "completely unacceptable", and demanded an "explanation from the Chinese side and [a] complete retraction of this statement". He also further stated that Latvia, along with Lithuania and Estonia, would summon respective high ranking Chinese diplomats in their capitals to provide explanation regarding Lu's remarks.{{cite web|url=https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3218016/baltic-countries-fume-chinas-envoy-france-questions-sovereignty-post-soviet-states|title=Baltic countries fume as China's envoy in France questions sovereignty of post-Soviet states|first=Finbarr|last=Bermingham|newspaper=South China Morning Post|date=2023-04-23|access-date=April 23, 2023}} The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova protested these declarations as well.{{cite news|url=https://www.digi24.ro/stiri/externe/republica-moldova-este-inacceptabila-contestarea-de-catre-ambasadorul-chinez-la-paris-a-suveranitatii-fostelor-republici-sovietice-2325231|title=Republica Moldova: Este "inacceptabilă" contestarea de către ambasadorul chinez la Paris a suveranității fostelor republici sovietice|publisher=Digi24|date=24 April 2023|language=ro}} About 80 European lawmakers called that "wolf-warrior activity at its worst" and asked the Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs to declare Lu persona non grata in France immediately.{{cite web |title='Ms. Colonna, we ask you to declare the Chinese ambassador to France Lu Shaye persona non grata' |url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/opinion/article/2023/04/23/ms-colonna-we-ask-you-to-declare-the-chinese-ambassador-to-france-lu-shaye-persona-non-grata_6023969_23.html |website=Le Monde |access-date=23 April 2023 |language=en |date=23 April 2023}} The transcript of Lu's interview, which was initially published in both Chinese and French on the Chinese embassy to France's official WeChat account, was deleted and the transcript was not published on the embassy's website.{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-04-24/chinese-embassy-removes-interview-transcript-on-ex-soviet-states#xj4y7vzkg?leadSource=uverify%20wall|title=China Embassy Removes Remarks About Ex-Soviet States|newspaper=Bloomberg|date=2023-04-24|access-date=April 23, 2023}}{{Closed access}} Following the diplomatic outrage over Lu's remarks, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, at a regular press conference in Beijing, stated that China "respects the status of the member states as sovereign states after the collapse of the Soviet Union".{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-respects-ex-soviet-states-sovereign-nations-foreign-ministry-2023-04-24/|title=China respects ex-Soviet states as sovereign nations - foreign ministry|work=Reuters|date=2023-04-23|access-date=2023-04-24}}

Personal life

Lu married Wang Liwen ({{zh|s=王立文|labels=no}}); the couple has a son.{{cite news|url=http://www.chinanews.com/gn/2017/03-01/8162522.shtml |script-title=zh:中国新任驻加拿大大使卢沙野飞抵渥太华履新 |work=chinanews |date=2017-03-01 |language=zh}}