The Chinese Communist Party has appointed its former ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, as the Special Representative of the Chinese Government for European Affairs. Lu was known as a “Wolf Warrior” — France’s Le Figaro described him as someone who “breaks with traditional diplomatic restraint, is aggressive, combative, and a fitting symbol of ‘Wolf Warrior diplomacy.’”
On April 21, 2023, Lu Shaye gave an interview to French television channel LCI, during which he shockingly denied the sovereignty of the 15 independent states that emerged after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Regarding whether the territory of Crimea belongs to Ukraine or Russia, he stated, “it depends on how you view the issue.” His remark that Crimea was “originally Russia’s” caused an uproar across Europe. In response, 80 members of the European Parliament jointly called on France to declare Lu persona non grata.
During his tenure in France, Lu was repeatedly summoned by the French Foreign Ministry for his inflammatory rhetoric. In April 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, he accused staff at French nursing homes of abandoning their duties, allowing elderly residents to die of hunger and disease – a claim published on the website of the Chinese embassy in France. In March 2021, he attacked French think tank researcher Antoine Bondaz as having an “anti-China stance,” called him a “little thug,” and labeled critics of China as “rabid hyenas disguised as researchers and media professionals.”
In another controversial remark, on August 3, 2022, during an interview with French media, he stated that if China were to unify Taiwan, the Taiwanese people would need to undergo “re-education” – referring to the CCP’s forced labor camps where it locks up and “re-educates” criminals and political dissidents to change their minds.
Source: Radio France International, February 7, 2025
https://www.rfi.fr/cn/中国/20250206-战狼-卢沙野又回欧洲了