“Parrot” of “Russian propaganda”: the controversial remarks of the Chinese ambassador to France who, questioned about the Ukrainian province of Crimea, annexed since 2014 by Moscow, denied the sovereignty of former Soviet republics, provoked a outcry among the States concerned.
“It is strange to hear an absurd version of ‘the history of Crimea’ from a representative of a scrupulous country about its millennial history,” tweeted Mykhaïlo Podoliak, adviser to the presidency. Ukrainian.
“All the countries of the former USSR have a clear sovereign status enshrined in international law”, he continued, before ironically: “If you want to be a major political player, do not repeat like a parrot Russian propaganda. »
Asked Friday evening on the French channel LCI, the Chinese ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, had indicated about Crimea, occupied by Moscow since 2014: “It depends on how we perceive this problem. There is history. Crimea was at the very beginning to Russia. It was Khrushchev who gave Crimea to Ukraine in the days of the Soviet Union. »
He continued his argument, believing that the countries of the former USSR “do not have effective status in international law because there is no international agreement to concretize their status as sovereign countries”.
“Fighting Wolf”
Lu Shaye, who is part of the “wolves fighters”, this new clan of Chinese diplomats who do not mince their words in the face of a West perceived as systematically hostile to Beijing, had also called for people to stop “bickering” over the question of post-war borders. Soviets.
“Now, the most urgent thing is to stop, to achieve the ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, he said.
Comments that do not only concern these two countries, but all the republics born of the breakup of the USSR in 1991, i.e. 14 “United Nations member states, which this Chinese official literally wiped off the map in a single statement. mind-boggling”, comments Thomas Friang, the founder of the Open Diplomacy Institute, a French think-tank, for the Sunday newspaper.
The Baltic States, now members of the European Union and NATO, do not hide their anger. Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics denounced the “completely unacceptable” remarks.
His Estonian counterpart Margus Tsahkna described them as “false”, stemming from a “misinterpretation of history”. “According to international law, the Baltic States have been sovereign since 1918, but they were occupied for 50 years” by the USSR, he continued.
“The EU can only assume that these statements do not represent China’s official position”, castigated the head of its diplomacy Josep Borrell, also criticizing “unacceptable” remarks
France has declared that it has “read it with dismay”.
Ukraine has been recognized internationally “within borders including Crimea in 1991 by the entire international community, including China”, insisted Paris, recalling that the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 is “illegal under of international law”.
Embarrassment
The statements of the “wolf” Shaye embarrass French diplomacy, barely two weeks after Emmanuel Macron visited his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to encourage him to “bring Russia to its senses” vis-à-vis against Ukraine and urge it not to deliver arms to Moscow.
If Beijing says it is officially neutral, Xi Jinping has never condemned the Russian invasion or even spoken on the phone, so far, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Conversely, he recently went to Moscow to reaffirm his partnership with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in the guise of an anti-Western front.
Mr. Macron and Mr. Xi then issued a joint statement in which they pledged to “support any effort to restore peace in Ukraine”.
The French president had above all caused a wave of incomprehension by declaring that Europe should not automatically align itself with the United States or Beijing in the event of a conflict over Taiwan, when Washington is Kiev’s main military support. , far ahead of the EU.
Among the then detractors of Emmanuel Macron, the Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis split a new perplexed tweet.
“If anyone is still wondering why the Baltic states don’t trust China to ‘broker peace in Ukraine’,” he observed, “here’s a Chinese ambassador who says Crimea is Russian and the borders of our countries have no legal basis. »