The Chinese diplomat who suggested last August that Washington should just “shut up and keep quiet” about China’s defense spending has just gotten a big promotion.

The “un-diplomatic” diplomat, Sha Zukang, just won a plum assignment near the top of the United Nations hierarchy. He’ll be under secretary of economic and social affairs, a post just under Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Sha is currently China’s representative in Geneva to U.N. organizations there.

Sha threw diplomatic language to the winds last August when he told the BBC that the Bush administration has no place criticizing increases in Chinese military spending. I posted then on his statements, including an audio link. His statements raised hackles in Washington, but heartened Chinese who have grown weary of U.S. criticism of the nation’s rise.