From his interview on LCI on Friday to the summons of Chinese envoys from the Baltic States three days later, the Chinese ambassador to France has been in the spotlight for 72 hours.
What is happening within Chinese diplomacy in France? The representative from Beijing in Paris, Lu Shaye, was a guest of LCI, Friday, April 21, when he launched into an erroneous analysis of the situation in Crimea, a region of Ukraine annexed by Russia since 2014, provoking strong reactions within of the international community.
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The outcry also relates to comments he made about countries of the former USSR and led to the summoning of Chinese ambassadors to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia on Monday. Franceinfo summarizes this tense diplomatic sequence in four acts.
1 The ambassador questions the sovereignty of certain states during an interview
The Chinese ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, was a guest on the LCI channel on Friday. Asked about the situation in the Ukrainian province of Crimea, annexed since 2014 by Moscow, the diplomat commented: “It depends on how we perceive this problem. There is history. Crimea was, at the very beginning, Russia. [Nikita] Khrushchev who offered Crimea to Ukraine in the days of the Soviet Union.” He also took the opportunity to deny the sovereignty of former Soviet republics. According to him, 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 a sovereign country”he said on Friday evening.
However, the States born following the collapse of the Soviet Union are sovereign members, as specified in the UN charter. “These are absolutely false and revisionist statements”confirms Marc Julienne, researcher at the French Institute of International Relations (Ifri) and expert on China, who recalls that the diplomat has already been noticed by several contested statements and positions taken during his stay in Paris. “This is the umpteenth crisis caused by the ambassador, we should not be unduly surprised”he considers.
During this interview, the diplomat also called for an end to “quibble” on the issue of post-Soviet borders. “Now the most urgent thing is to stop, to achieve the ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, he added.
2 His remarks provoked an outcry from Western states
These declarations running counter to international law are generating a movement of indignation on the international scene. They are qualified as“unacceptable” by Josep Borrell, the head of European diplomacy. On Twitter, Mykhaïlo Podoliak, adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, denounces Sunday a “absurd version” of the history of Crimea and adds that “all the countries of the former USSR have a clear sovereign status enshrined in international law”, calling Lu Shaye at “do not repeat the propaganda” Russian.
On the Quai d’Orsay side, it is “dismay”. The reaction of Paris comes Saturday evening through a press release, inviting China to say if these declarations “reflect his position, which we hope is not the case”. Ukraine has been internationally recognized “in borders including Crimea in 1991 by the entire international community, including China, at the fall of the USSR as a new member state of the United Nations”, insists Paris, recalling that the annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 is illegal under international law.
Sunday, in a column published in The worlda group of 80 parliamentarians asks the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, to “declare Chinese Ambassador Lu Shaye persona non grata”. Twenty-four hours later, Emmanuel Macron denounces “the type of language” used by the ambassador. “Full solidarity with the countries that have been attacked in the reading of their history and their borders”, adds the French president.
The incident comes as a meeting of European Union foreign ministers is being held in Luxembourg on Monday, during which relations between the EU and China are to be “discreetly” discussed, according to information from EURACTIV. “The timing is catastrophic”, analyzes Antoine Bondaz, China specialist, researcher at the Foundation for Strategic Research (FRS). “We are at a time when many Europeans doubt China’s position, especially in the war in Ukraine. The country’s image has deteriorated in Central and Eastern Europe”.
3 Several Chinese ambassadors are summoned across Europe
After 72 hours of procrastination, the Chinese ambassador to France, Lu Shaye, was received by Catherine Colonna’s chief of staff on Monday, learned France Télévisions from a diplomatic source, confirming information from the World. He called the ambassador “to use his public speech in accordance with the official positions of his country”, specified the Quai d’Orsay at the end of this meeting.
Furthermore, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are calling “during the day” Monday the Chinese ambassador in their respective capitals. The stated goal is to “ask for clarification, whether China’s position has changed regarding independence, and remind them that we are not post-Soviet countries but countries that were illegally occupied by the Soviet Union”declared the head of the Lithuanian diplomacy, Gabrielius Landsbergis.
“It’s a reaction extremely strong of all Europeans. The fact that countries summon the ambassador of their country, for remarks made by another ambassador, it almost never happens”insists researcher Antoine Bondaz.
4 China distances itself from its envoy
This position of Lu Shaye does it correspond to that of his country? Monday, Beijing, through the voice of the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mao Ning, declares the opposite, ensuring to respect the “sovereign status” countries of the former USSR. “After the collapse of the Soviet Union, China was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with the countries concerned”she clarified. “Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, China has always adhered to the principle of mutual respect and equality to develop bilateral relations of friendship and cooperation.”adds the spokesperson.
These assertions “were not a statement of policy, but an expression of personal views during a televised debate. They should not be subject to over-interpretation”, writes the spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in France in a press release published on Monday. Face amid outcry, Chinese Embassy also removes controversial comments about former Soviet states from WeChat account transcripts, as spotted by Bloomberg (paid article and in English).
“This rectification of Beijing is an important step, since as a representative, what the ambassador said committed China”, comments researcher Marc Julienne. If Beijing officially claims to be neutral in the conflict between kyiv and Moscow, Chinese President Xi Jinping has never condemned the Russian invasion.