A Chinese language Ambassador’s Feedback on Ex-Soviet States Draw Ire

BRUSSELS — China moved shortly on Monday to restrict harm to its relations with Europe, repudiating the feedback of Beijing’s ambassador in Paris who had questioned the sovereignty of post-Soviet nations like Ukraine in a televised interview.

The feedback by Lu Shaye on Friday brought on a diplomatic firestorm over the weekend amongst European overseas ministers and parliamentarians, with a number of international locations summoning China’s envoys for explanations. His remarks threatened to throw a wrench in China’s ongoing efforts to stability courting European leaders with commerce whereas supporting Russia, with which it has declared a “no limits” partnership.

The battle in Ukraine has put Beijing in a clumsy place: It has refused to sentence Russia’s invasion whereas additionally promising to not assist Russia militarily in its battle. China’s International Ministry tried to stem the fallout of Mr. Lu’s remarks on Monday, insisting that it acknowledged the sovereignty of all the previous Soviet republics which have declared independence, together with Ukraine.

“China respects the sovereign standing of former Soviet republics after the Soviet Union’s dissolution,” mentioned the ministry spokeswoman, Mao Ning, talking at a information briefing in Beijing.

Requested if Mr. Lu’s feedback on Friday represented official coverage, Ms. Mao responded: “I can inform you what I said simply now represents the official place of the Chinese language authorities.”

Mr. Lu was responding to a query from the French tv station, TF1, about whether or not Crimea, which was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, was a part of Ukraine beneath worldwide regulation. He mentioned that Crimea was Russian traditionally and had been handed over to Ukraine, then added: “Even these international locations of the previous Soviet Union would not have an efficient standing in worldwide regulation, since there isn’t any worldwide settlement that might specify their standing as sovereign international locations.”

After the Chinese language International Ministry briefing on Monday, the Chinese language Embassy in Paris issued an announcement saying that Mr. Lu’s remarks “weren’t a political declaration however an expression of private factors of view throughout a televised debate.” Mr. Lu’s feedback, the assertion mentioned, “shouldn’t be topic to over-interpretation.”

However the situation has not gone away. France, expressing “consternation,” summoned Mr. Lu on Monday to the Quai d’Orsay, the overseas ministry, to elucidate his feedback. The three Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, mentioned that they might do the identical.

Mr. Lu’s remarks have provoked especial anger in international locations of Japanese and Central Europe that have been beneath Soviet rule or occupation. The Baltic nations, which have been annexed by the Soviet Union after World Struggle II, are significantly delicate to any suggestion that their sovereignty is beneath query.

At a gathering of E.U. overseas ministers in Luxembourg on Monday, Lithuania’s overseas minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, mentioned that the Chinese language ambassadors can be requested to elucidate if the “Chinese language place has modified on independence and to remind them that we’re not post-Soviet international locations, however we’re the international locations that have been illegally occupied by Soviet Union.”

His Estonian counterpart, Margus Tsahkna, mentioned that he wished to know “why China has such a place or feedback concerning the Baltic States,” that are all members of the European Union and NATO. Ms. Mao’s feedback weren’t ample, he mentioned, including: “I hope that there will likely be a proof. We aren’t glad with that announcement.”

On Monday, Charles Michel, the president of the European Council who chairs summits of the bloc’s 27 leaders, mentioned that E.U.-China coverage can be on the official agenda of the following assembly in June.

The declaration simply earlier than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine of a “no limits” partnership between Beijing and Moscow had already shaken Europeans, who retain main financial dependencies on China whilst they’ve endeavored to reduce their reliance on Russian power.

“This can solely deepen considerations about China in Europe and reinforce nervousness about whether or not China can and can play a constructive function within the Ukraine disaster,” mentioned Noah Barkin, a China specialist primarily based in Berlin with the Rhodium Group, a analysis agency. “We’ve seen a flurry of visits by European leaders to Beijing, pushing Xi to lean on Putin, however all of the indicators have been within the different route — that China is deepening its relationship with Russia.”

In distinction to Mr. Lu’s remarks, Fu Cong, China’s ambassador to the European Union, advised The New York Occasions in an interview this month that China didn’t acknowledge Russia’s annexation of Crimea or of components of Ukraine’s japanese Donbas area, as a substitute recognizing Ukraine inside its internationally accepted borders, in step with Ms. Mao’s remarks on Monday.

However Mr. Fu additionally mentioned that Beijing had not condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a result of it understood Russia’s claims about waging a defensive battle towards NATO encroachment, and since his authorities believes “the foundation causes are extra difficult” than Western leaders say.

Mr. Lu, 58, has been China’s ambassador to France for almost 4 years and has earned a repute as a fierce, typically caustic consultant of a much less diffident China. He’s thought of one of many prime exponents of what has been referred to as “wolf-warrior diplomacy,” named after two ultrapatriotic Chinese language movies that includes the evil plots and fiery demise of American-led overseas mercenaries.

Mr. Lu has responded aggressively to criticism of China over its dealing with of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is believed to have begun in Wuhan, the town in central China the place he was as soon as a deputy mayor, and of its reluctance to deal transparently with the World Well being Group. He grew to become well-known in France close to the beginning of the pandemic, in April 2020, when an nameless Chinese language diplomat on the embassy web site accused nurses in French care houses of getting “deserted their posts in a single day” and “leaving their residents to die of starvation and illness.”

That outburst introduced Mr. Lu’s first summons to the French International Ministry, the primary time a Chinese language ambassador had been summoned there for the reason that crackdown on democracy protesters in Tiananmen Sq. in 1989.

David Pierson contributed reporting from Singapore, and Christopher Buckley from Taipei, Taiwan. Olivia Wang contributed analysis.