The French Foreign Ministry reacted on Saturday night “with dismay” to the statements by the Chinese ambassador to France, who denied the sovereignty of post-Soviet countries.
In an interview with the TF1 channel, Lu Shaye defended this Friday that “there is no international agreement that materializes their status as sovereign countries” and could not give a specific answer when asked if “Crimea [península anexada pela Rússia em 2014] It’s part of Ukraine.”
On Crimea, he said: “It depends on how you look at this problem. There is a history. Crimea belonged to Russia in the beginning. It was Khrushchev who handed over Crimea to Ukraine in the days of the Soviet Union.”
The Chinese diplomat called for an end to disputes on the issue of post-Soviet borders. “Now the most urgent thing is to stop, to reach a ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, he said.
In a statement, the French Foreign Ministry stated that it “has taken note with dismay” of these comments and called on China to “say (whether) they reflect the position” of Beijing.
“We hope this is not the case,” it read.
Several countries immediately reacted to the Chinese diplomat’s statements, and the Ukrainian ambassador to France, Vadim Omelchenko, highlighted on the social network Twitter the differences between Lu Shaye’s statements and Beijing’s official position on the ongoing conflict in the territory. ukrainian.
“Either this man has obvious problems with geography,” the Ukrainian ambassador replied, continuing: “Or his statements contradict Beijing’s position on efforts to restore peace in Ukraine on the basis of international law and the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations”. ‘”.
The Latvian Foreign Minister, Edgars Rinkevics, considered, in turn, that these are “completely unacceptable statements” and that Latvia awaits “an explanation from China and the complete retraction of this statement.”
The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry followed the same line of protest, saying it would call China’s charge d’affaires in the country on Monday to “explain,” in a concerted move with Latvia and Estonia.
The head of Estonian diplomacy, Margus Tsahkna, also protested, saying that “it is sad that a representative of the People’s Republic of China holds these views” and that it is an “incomprehensible position.”
Source: TSF
