Array
Last Friday, China’s ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, was on a French television show being pressed about the status of Crimea. The question was pretty simple: “Is Crimea Ukraine to you?” Lu Shaye balked at answer that one, laughing nervously and then starting into a response that began “It depends…”
“First, at the very beginning, Crimea belonged to Russia, didn’t it?” he ventured. He continued, “And it’s Khrushchev who offered Crimea to Ukraine in the USSR times.”
The interviewer interrupted saying “According to international law, as you know, Crimea is Ukraine.” And that’s when Lu Shaye took it up a notch by suggesting that Ukraine and other former Soviet Republics don’t actually have any status in international law “because there is no international agreement to materialize their sovereignty.” His interviewer asked if this meant the border issues from the fall of the USSR were still unresolved and at that point Lu Shaye tried to change the subject.
This was a big mess and over the weekend the EU foreign affairs secretary called the remarks unacceptable.
Unacceptable remarks of the Chinese Ambassador to France questioning the sovereignty of the countries which became independent with the end of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The EU can only suppose these declarations do not represent China’s official policy.
Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) April 23, 2023
Several countries in Europe also said they wanted an explanation of Lu’s remarks. Lithuania’s foreign minister noted these comments really create a problem for China’s proposed role as peacemaker in Ukraine.
France also responded Sunday, with its Foreign Ministry stating its “full solidarity” with all the allied countries affected and calling on China to clarify whether these comments reflect its position, according to Reuters.
