Just when the European Union had moved to convince China to force Vladimir Putin to withdraw their troops from the Ukraine (with visits to Beijing from Pedro Sanchez, Emmanuel Macron either Ursula von der Leyen), the government of Xi Jinping once again demonstrates that it cannot act as an arbitrator in the conflict because it is on the side of Moscow.
The Chinese ambassador to France, Lu Shayehas sparked outrage across the EU this weekend not only for questioning Ukraine’s membership of Crimea (illegally annexed by Russia in 2014), but for going a step further and denying the sovereignty of the Baltic states.
The fire generated by the words of the Chinese diplomat has reached such dimensions that Josep Borrell he has implicitly asked the Beijing government to disavow him. The French Foreign Ministry and the governments of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have also attacked Shaye’s statements.
? @DariusRochebin : “Est-ce que la Crimee, à vos yeux, c’est l’Ukraine ?”
? Lu Shaye : “Ça depend comment on perçoit le probleme […] Ce n’est pas si simple.”
? #La26 pic.twitter.com/nspLMs9HO8
—LCI (@LCI) April 21, 2023
“Unacceptable comments by the Chinese ambassador to France questioning the sovereignty of the countries that became independent with the end of the Soviet Union in 1991. The EU can only assume that these statements do not represent China’s official policy.” has written this Sunday on his Twitter account the High Representative of the EU for the Common Foreign and Security Policy.
It all started with a combative interview by Lu on the French news network LCI. “Is Crimea Ukraine in your opinion?the presenter asks. “Depends on how this problem is perceived“, answers the Chinese diplomat after outlining a forced half laugh. “We have the story: Crimea was at first part of Russia and it was Khrushchev who offered Crimea to Ukraine in Soviet times,” he says.
[China ignora la petición de Macron y Von der Leyen para que obligue a Putin a salir de Ucrania]
The ambassador’s speech becomes even more tangled when the journalist insists that, according to international law, Crimea is part of Ukraine. “Those countries of the former Soviet Union have no effective status in international law.because there has not been an international agreement to specify their status as sovereign countries,” says Lu.
Are you saying that the order of the borders born from the fall of the Soviet Union has not yet been resolved?, continues the presenter. “There is no need to get entangled again with this type of problem. Now, the most urgent thing is to achieve a ceasefire“, replies the Chinese ambassador to France.
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
“If anyone is still wondering why the Baltic states don’t trust China to ‘negotiate peace in Ukraine’here is a Chinese ambassador who argues that Crimea is Russian and that the borders of our countries have no legal basis,” denounced the Lithuanian Foreign Minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis.
“The Chinese ambassador to France’s statements on international law and the sovereignty of nations are completely unacceptable. We await an explanation from the Chinese side and a complete retraction of these words.“said the head of Latvian diplomacy, Edgars Rinkevics.
The Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has summoned this Monday the head of the Chinese embassy in Riga to provide explanationsa step that has been coordinated with Lithuania and Estonia.
Lu’s words have also generated strong controversy in Ukraine. “All countries of the former Soviet Union have a clear sovereign status enshrined in international law. Except for Russia, which fraudulently took a seat on the UN Security Council,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodimir Zelensky.
[Macron defiende que la UE debe ser la tercera superpotencia mundial frente a EEUU y China]
“It is strange to hear an absurd version of ‘Crimean history’ from a representative of a country that is scrupulous about its millennial history. If you want to be a major political player, don’t echo the propaganda of the Russians“laments Zelensky’s adviser.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs has declared itself “dismayed” by the statements of the Chinese ambassador and has also asked the Government of Beijing to disavow him. Ukraine was internationally recognized “with its borders, including Crimea, in 1991 by the entire international communityincluding China, to the fall of the Soviet Union as a new member state of the United Nations”, insists Paris.
Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 “is illegal under international law,” France’s statement concluded.
Precisely, the recent joint mission of Emmanuel Macron and Ursula von der Leyen in Beijing it ended in a resounding failure. It is not just that Europe’s leaders failed to wrest Xi Jinping no commitment to put pressure on Russia to end the war in Ukraine. But also the united front that the trip was intended to stage crackedbetween the hardness exhibited by the president of the Commission and the more conciliatory position of the French president.
To finish complicating things, Macron gave an interview on his return in which he concentrated all his efforts ondistance yourself from US policy towards China and Taiwan. Some words that caused a strong controversy in Washington, but also among the rest of the EU partners, in particular Poland and the Baltics.
