Baltic States respond to Chinese diplomat who questioned sovereignty of post-Soviet states

The foreign ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have reacted to the recent statement of Lu Shaye, the Chinese Ambassador to France, who questioned the sovereignty of the former Soviet republics and claimed that "Crimea originally belonged to Russia".

Source: Delfi, a news website in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania providing daily news

Details: A television interview with Lu Shaye, Chinese Ambassador to France, to Swiss journalist Darius Rochebin caused a broad resonance. In particular, the ambassador stated that the status of post-Soviet countries in international law is unclear, thus calling into question their sovereignty, as the newspaper writes.

Answering the question of whether Crimea was part of Ukraine, Lu Shaye said that it all depends on how you look at this question. "First of all... Crimea originally belonged to Russia, didn't it? And then Khrushchev [former leader of the USSR] gave Crimea to Ukraine in the Soviet times," Shaye said.

The journalist argued that under international law, Crimea is part of Ukraine.

Shaye told him that the former Soviet republics have no status under international law. "In international law, the former Soviet states do not even have the status of... how shall I put it... actual status in international law because no international treaty would materialise their sovereignty," the Chinese ambassador said.

The Latvian Foreign Ministry has responded to the Chinese diplomat's statement. The ministry summoned the Chargé d'Affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Riga for explanations on 17 March.

Quote: "Remarks by the Chinese Ambassador in France concerning international law and sovereignty of nations are completely unacceptable. We expect an explanation from the Chinese side and complete retraction of this statement," Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs wrote on Twitter.

Details: Rinkēvičs noted that this step was agreed upon with Lithuania and Estonia.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis stated that the Chinese diplomat's statement clearly explains why Beijing cannot mediate in the peace talks in Ukraine.

"If anyone is still wondering why the Baltic States don't trust China to "broker peace in Ukraine", here's a Chinese ambassador arguing that Crimea is Russian and our countries' borders have no legal basis," he stressed.

"For years the West said economic cooperation would persuade dictators to support rules based international order. But all we did was feed their economies while letting them break all the rules. China is betting that we will repeat this mistake. It's time to try something else," Landsbergis wrote on Twitter.

Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna also condemned the words of the Chinese ambassador, as Estonian news agency Postimees reports.

"The Chinese diplomat's statements are confusing. We condemn such comments against an independent and sovereign country," said the Estonian Foreign Minister.

"The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to summon the Chinese representative in Estonia and, if necessary, educate him about our history. Our goal is to clarify that such views are unacceptable and that Estonia is a sovereign state," Tsahkna said.

Background: Vadym Omelchenko, Ukraine’s ambassador to France, has rebuked a Chinese diplomat in France who said the status of Ukraine and Crimea was "not that simple".

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