Zhang Jun was appointed by Chinese President Xi Jinping as China's new Permanent Representative to the United Nations, replacing Ma Zhaoxu.

President Xi has appointed six new ambassadors in accordance with a decision by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, according to a statement from the national legislature Thursday.

Zhang, the former assistant minister of foreign affairs, started his role as China's new permanent representative to the UN last week.

When meeting with reporters from major international media at the UN headquarters in New York last week, he stressed that China attaches great importance to its cooperation with the United Nations and will "stand firm" with the UN.

China will give strong support to the organization by defending multilateralism and supporting an international system with the United Nations at its center, Zhang said.

Ma was appointed vice minister of foreign affairs in July.

Other appointments are as follows:

Sun Weidong was appointed ambassador to India, replacing Luo Zhaohui.

Zhou Jian was appointed ambassador to Qatar, replacing Li Chen.

Li Yan was appointed ambassador to Georgia, replacing Ji Yanchi.

Guo Min was appointed ambassador to Azerbaijan, replacing Wei Jinghua.

Lu Shaye was appointed ambassador to France and Monaco, replacing Zhai Jun.

(With input from Xinhua)

(Cover: Zhang Jun (C, front), Chinese Permanent Representative to the United Nations, addresses a Security Council meeting on children and armed conflict, at the UN headquarters in New York, Aug. 2, 2019. /Xinhua Photo)