“Unacceptable comments by the Chinese ambassador to France questioning the sovereignty of countries that gained independence with the end of the Soviet Union in 1991,” Josep Borrell said through his account on the social network Twitter.
The head of European diplomacy added that “the European Union (EU) can only assume that these statements do not represent China’s official policy.”
On Friday, the Chinese ambassador to France defended on a French channel that “there is no international agreement concretising the status of sovereign countries” of the post-Soviet states and could not give a concrete answer to the question whether “Crimea [península anexada pela Rússia em 2014] is part of Ukraine”.
These statements sparked protests from Ukraine and the Baltic States.
Through the social network Twitter, Ukrainian ambassador to France, Vadim Omelchenko, responded, highlighting the differences between Lu Shaye’s statements and Beijing’s official position on the ongoing conflict on Ukrainian territory.
“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 based on international law and its aims and principles.” of the Charter of the United Nations.'”.
In turn, Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics said that these are “completely unacceptable statements” and that Latvia expects “a statement from the Chinese side and the complete withdrawal of this statement”.
Lithuania’s foreign ministry followed the same line of protest, saying on Monday it would call on China’s chargé d’affaires in the country to “explain”, in a joint 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 has these views” and that it is an “incomprehensible point of view”.
The French Foreign Ministry reacted “with consternation” to the statements of the Chinese ambassador on Saturday evening.
Source: DN
