After receiving pushback from European leaders, China disavowed comments made by its ambassador to France, which called into doubt the autonomy of Ukraine alongside other previous Soviet member nations.
Reports show the Chinese embassy in Paris clarified that Ambassador Lu Shaye’s remarks on Ukraine should not be taken as a statement of policy but rather as an individual opinion. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the Chinese government acknowledged the republics’ independence.
The CCP has said once again that it is eager to cooperate with the global community in order to seek a peaceful solution to the Ukraine problem, despite Russia and Ukraine’s ongoing conflict.
Outrage in European capitals has been building since April 21, when Lu gave an interview to French media in which he said that Crimea had always been Russian and ex-Soviet republics had no functional standing under international law.
Reports show that Lu explained that no international treaty allowed them to actualize their position as a sovereign country. Ex-Soviet Union nations lack the legal standing under international law, he added.
Mao Ning, China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, dismissed Lu’s comments. She said that Beijing recognizes the sovereignty and independence of all nations, as well as the values of the United Nations Charter.
Former Soviet republics, including Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukraine, gained independence when the Soviet Union’s communist empire fell in 1991. All three Baltic countries are currently members of NATO and the European Union.
Beijing has been critical of U.S. sanctions on Russia and has abstained from denouncing Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Gabrielius Landsbergis, the Foreign Minister of Lithuania, tweeted that Lu’s comments proved the Baltic nations were wrong to mistrust China as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine.
According to a report, for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, China’s President Xi has spoken with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. Beijing has said it wants to send an ambassador to Kyiv to act as a mediator and seek a political solution.
Even while they were pleased with the phone contact between the two leaders, American officials cautioned that it was too early to know if it would result in a peace agreement.
