Mr. Lu previously served as Director-General of the Department of Protocol of MFA. During his term, he had engaged in arranging diplomatic activities for former Premier Zhou Enlai and Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, accompanied the then President Jiang Zemin and Premier Li Peng during foreign visits, and participated in the reception of world leaders, including former presidents of the United States (from Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton),  UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev, and Russian President Boris Yeltsin.