The French government has expressed »dismay» at recent statements by China’s ambassador to Paris, Lu Shaye, who said on Saturday that post-Soviet countries have »no effective status» under international law, sparking strong criticism from Ukraine and the Baltic states.
A French Foreign Ministry spokesman has shown its »full solidarity» with »all the allies and partners affected» by Lu’s statements and stressed that all of them »obtained a long-awaited independence after decades of oppression», French TV channel LC1 reported.
He also stressed that the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by Russia in 2014 is »illegal, according to international law», after the Chinese ambassador to France did not give a concrete answer when asked if »Crimea is part of Ukraine».
For his part, the main advisor to the Ukrainian Presidency, Mikhail Podoliak, has emphasized in a message on his account on the social network Twitter that »all» the countries that emerged from the disintegration of the Soviet Union »have a clear sovereign status collected by the International Law». »Except for Russia, which fraudulently assumed a seat on the United Nations Security Council,» he clarified.
»It is strange to hear an absurd version of ‘Crimean history’ from the representative of a country that is scrupulous about its thousand years of history. If you want to be a relevant political actor, you should not parrot the propaganda of the Russians,» he concluded.
The High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union, Josep Borrell, also joined in the reproaches.
»Unacceptable comments by the Chinese ambassador in France questioning the sovereignty of the countries that became independent with the end of the Soviet Union in 1991,» he said.
»The European Union can only assume that these statements do not represent China’s official policy,» Borrell added on Twitter.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
